Asleep
by Tessadragon
Summary: Rex's getting blasted by an EVO and then he wakes up in Bizarro Land.
1. Chapter 1

Asleep

Chapter 1

Suburbia. He saw white picket fences out of the corner of his eye but mostly he saw the hole forming in the centre of the road, how the concrete rose like a pie crust in the oven before it parted and a swollen peach-like body thrust upwards.

Did it use to be a slug? Rex wondered, activating his smackhands. He could feel rather than see that Six was a foot behind him, his katanas undoubtedly at the ready.

"I'll take it." He was confident.

"Fine." Six took a step back, watching him, ever ready to step in.

Rex took a run as the slug EVO paused to concentrate on pulling itself up out of the road. Its bulk made it clearly difficult.

Then it opened its mouth, a spiky thing, and released a sound like Circe suffering PMT.

Rex swore and his smackhands deactivated so he could clamp his hands to his ears, as the scream continued.

He felt something wet against his hands but he couldn't look as long as the sound was coming out.

Then the slug whipped the tail end of its body around and slammed it into Rex, sweeping him into the air.

Like a dream, Rex saw the droplets trickle from his arms. How can it scream while moving? he thought, saw the flash of white but not what they meant. Felt his body bow with impact. Something—

* * *

"Breakfast, Rex!" Holiday's voice called from downstairs.

Rex felt himself roll over startled and off a bed way higher off his own…he hit the floor with a yelp, then looked down at it, astonished. Carpet? It was a medium green carpet.

His hands started to tremble. His room did not have a carpet.

There was a knock on the bedroom door: it wasn't even the same kind of door as the door to Rex's room: it was wooden, a normal wooden door, not a sliding door, no key pad or anything…

Rex stared around. This isn't anything like my room. "What the hell?" he whispered.

The furniture was wooden, and it was actual furniture, not just metal built-in cupboards and bunk bed. A wooden chest of drawers, a wooden bedstead with a thick mattress, a wooden desk. There was even a rug by his bed.

There was a window, and even curtains, only half-drawn. On shaky legs, he went to the window and looked out.

Suburbia…a street. White picket fence. A garden…

Pain rushed through him for a split second, his mouth was already opening to scream, and then the pain was gone before he could have even sunk to his knees. He sat down on the bed anyway, feeling lightheaded enough to put his head between his knees for a whole minute.

"Rex, you're late to breakfast," Six yelled from outside the door.

Holiday…Six, they'll explain, Rex thought, immediately relieved and ran to the door. Already reasons were forming in his mind. Maybe the Keep and the Base had been attacked and needed repairs. Maybe they were undercover, having to hide in suburbia. Maybe someone had drugged the water, maybe it was April Fool's Day…

He stepped out feeling curiously battle-ready, into a distinctly…cute…hallway. Framed photos on the hallway, a vase of fake flowers on the windowsill, a fluffy beige carpet. Feeling trepidation he looked at one of the framed photos. There was Holiday, Six…and Rex. He and Six were bare-chested, in actual swimming trunks, and the beach glittered behind them. Holiday actually wore a swimsuit. Oh my god, he felt weak at the knees. In the photo, he was grinning at the camera in that I-can't-believe-they-made-me-pose-for-this, while Six's hand was on his shoulder and Holiday was smiling in the way she didn't do for work ID photos.

Amazing, photo manipulation, Rex figured out finally and went down the stairs, following his nose to where the kitchen must be.

It smelled…good. I guess someone else must be cooking, Rex figured, remembering the last time Holiday had tried baking a cake.

Nope…Holiday was at the cooker, stirring something. Plates were already on the table, loaded with toast.

"So, this is…different," Rex said. Six looked up from the table and put his newspaper down. "Morning, sleepyhead," he said.

I have never heard him say that word, ever. Rex clamped down on the instinct to stare at the agent.

"Have you done your homework?" Holiday said. "You'd better not have been lying about it, you missed out on a good movie night."

"Uh, I had…homework?" Rex said faintly. "Wait, why would I have homework?"

Okay, if this is something undercover, wouldn't I have had a cover to actually read? Wouldn't I know what part I'm playing? Rex took a deep breath.

"Well then, you're grounded," Six said calmly. "For lying to your mother."

"WHAT?" Rex couldn't help sounding freaked out.

"Don't take that tone, Rex," Holiday said.

"Okay, whoa, whoa!" Rex put his hands up. "Six? Holiday?"

Now both of them stared at him. "What did you just call us?"

"I'm sorry, this is too much. What is it?" he whirled on his heel and stormed to the calendar hanging on the corkboard by the door. Okay, it was on the August page, that didn't mean anything.

"Honey, are you okay?" Holiday came to him and reached to touch his forehead. "Have you got a fever?"

"Have you got a pop quiz or something today?" Six queried, exchanging a worried look with Holiday.

"Pop quiz?" Rex vaguely remembered how Noah used to shudder about those things. "Um, I think I'd better….phone Noah," he said, pulling free from Holiday's palm on his forehead. Somehow, her thinking she was his mother made her way less of a hottie than usual.

"Breakfast," Six tossed a piece of toast at him. He barely caught it, while reaching up to his ear where his earpiece usually was. Nothing…his ear was empty. Feeling a bit of déjà vu, he reached into his jacket pocket and found a small mobile phone there. Fumbling with it, he opened its address book and found Noah's number as one of the few there.

Noah picked up on the fourth ring. "Hey."

"Hey, can we meet? Please?" there was a tinge of desperation in his voice.

"Well, we were gonna be meeting in exactly three, two, one…" the doorbell rang and Noah hung up. Rex walked out to the hallway and opened the front door: his best friend stood there, his school bag hanging from his shoulder.

Rex stuffed the toast into his mouth, chewed maybe once then swallowed. "Okay, let's go." He made to leave but Noah raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Huh?"

"That," Noah pointed behind Rex, at the satchel hanging from the coat hooks. "Or are you gonna let Mrs Farrowsky give you another detention?"

"A what? Oh, right…sure," Rex grabbed the bag to stop his head exploding.

He slammed the front door behind himself and followed Noah.

"You seem kinda…freaked," Noah offered as they walked.

"You have no idea," Rex said.


	2. Chapter 2

Thanks for the reviews, Peacexfreedom, Danni and Randomdraggon :-)

* * *

Chapter Two

Rex took one look at the equations and promptly started doodling in the corner of the page, a doodle that looked suspiciously like the maths teacher, a lemon-lipped woman with lank dark hair cut in a bob, wearing a crimped-collar blouse and a pleated skirt.

Tentacles, Rex decided. And spikes, poison-tipped for good measure. He added them to the doodle. Maths…Rex had a feeling he'd prefer an EVO to this as he stared at the numbers.

That's what she's gonna look like when she turns EVO. Tentacles, poison-tipped spikes, a reptilian tail will sprout out in the same tartan pattern as her skirt, and lemon-yellow eyes and scales.

"Didn't you sleep or something?" Noah hissed from the next desk over. "C'mon, Rex. She'll give you detention if you don't get this done!"

All so good for you, 4.0 GPA boy, Rex thought glumly.

Above the whiteboard the clock ticked down so slowly to the next bell that the second hand might actually be moving backwards.

Next mental list, Rex thought. Ways to wake up from this nightmare. Falling off buildings…they say you have to wake up right before you hit the bottom, don't they? He gulped. Or else that they die if they do hit the bottom, in real life…

Okay, that'd be last resort plan. How about electric shock? He could imagine going down to the basement and smacking the generator box, save a few kids from terminal boredom at the same time. How does Noah survive this place? He thought frustrated as he glared at the algebra. Okay, electric shock. That could work.

Jump into really cold water; that could work too.

Get something thrown at him…he looked at the teacher narrowly, wondering if he could make her mad enough to throw something hard enough to wake him up. Nope, he decided. Something tells me she would cope with the inmates of an asylum if she had to…and get them doing sums too.

The desire to escape was reaching critical levels. I'm not gonna pretend to throw up. Or actually throw up either. He looked at the fragile pen in his hand then pressed it to the paper until the ink burst over the page.

"Gotta go," he said, holding up his now-blue hand.

Frowning, Noah watched him practically run from the classroom. Then he stuck up his hand and said, "Stomach ache. Gotta go." Without waiting for a reply, he went after Rex.

* * *

"Holiday….my mother," Rex leaned over the sink, feeling dizzy. "What next, Six my dad? White Knight, my babysitter?" the words felt dead and hollow from his tongue. "School…I go to school? I live in a house?"

_Providence, I work for Providence. I live in a room that's practically sterile. I fly, I punch, I kick, I fight Van Kleiss…I'm an EVO…I have a talking monkey…_He stared at his reflection in the sink mirror, and panicked brown eyes stared back at him.

"Rex?" Noah sounded on the verge of terror, making Rex spin around, his hands already forming fists…but not metal fists.

"Okay, I think we'd better get you to the hospital," Noah said.

"How'd you find me?" Rex's voice was dull.

"Well, first I checked the guys' bathroom…then I thought, hey, crazy thought, maybe Rex is in the girls' bathroom. And here you are. In the girls' bathroom. And here I am. Also in the girls' bathroom."

They exchanged one look and ran from it.

"Okay, what's going on?" Noah demanded in the corridor. Rex looked up to make sure no one else was there then he determinedly checked he was going into the right bathroom and went back in, going to the far wall and rested his back against it.

"I think I must be having a hallucination," he finally told Noah and took a deep breath. Noah said nothing, just waited for him to explain.

"Okay, before I went to sleep last night, I was fighting EVOs," Rex said. "I was normal."

"Normal is fighting EVOs?" Noah raised an eyebrow. "Bro, your dad's gonna kill you if he ever hears. So I'll do you a favour and never tell him."

"That's it! He's not my dad!" Rex snapped. "He's Six, okay?" He rubbed his arms, feeling chilled. "He's like, my nanny, he found me—"

"What, so you're like, a foster kid now?"

"I don't know! I don't even remember anything before Providence—"  
"Providence is involved now? Okay, I think I'd better take you to the hospital right now and check that they didn't, I don't know, go crazy and experiment on you—"

"But I'm their secret weapon!" Rex burst out.

"Okay, we're getting you fitted for a straitjacket on the way to the hospital. For my safety. And yours too, I guess."

"Noah!"

"Look, call your dad—"

"He's not my—"

"Fine, Eight or whatever you called him—"

"Six!"

"Six. And your mom. They'll pick you up." Noah's voice dropped, trying to be calm. "Everything's gonna be fine, Rex. We'll find out what happened—"

"—What's happened is that I'm in Bizarro Land!" agitated, Rex started swearing in Spanish and started to the door. Fear was raising its ugly head in him again, am I going crazy?

"You said you fought EVOs last night?" Noah interrupted his thoughts. "What happened? Did you walk outside past curfew?"

"Curfew?"

"Well duh. You did, didn't you? Your mom is gonna freak and your dad's gonna kill you. Nice knowing you, man. What did they do? Slam your head into a wall? You're lucky they didn't eat you."

"I'd better go," Rex said tiredly and turned the tap on, dunked his ink-stained hands into the water. For a second the coloured water that coursed off his hands shone a different colour, red. Then the weird moment passed and he started trying to scrub the blue ink off his skin.

"I'll cover for you," Noah said. "Seriously man, you should see a doctor. You never know, it could've triggered your nanites." He looked at Rex like he was a doomed man now.

"How could they trigger my nanites," Rex said slowly, "When I'm already an EVO?"

"I'll pretend I never heard that. You must have concussion." Without another word, the freaked Noah left the bathroom.

Rex glared at his reflection and clenched his fist. "I'm ready to wake up now!" he growled and pinched his arm hard.

It hurt, but he wasn't waking up.

"That's it!" Rex snapped finally. "I'm getting out of this madhouse." He turned on his heels and stormed from the bathroom, his hands still dripping. He dried them off on his pants as he walked, ducking behind corners whenever he saw any hall monitors.

It was time to wake up, no matter what.


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks to: Peacexfreedom, Phantomgirl96, its Danni, Ylva and Lilly for the reviews :-) Enjoy!

* * *

Asleep Chapter 3

An orientation map scrunched in his fist, Rex approached the door marked No Entry. According to the map, this was the entrance to the Janitor's domain, where no kids were allowed unless they had express permission.

He took off his jacket and lay it down on the floor by the opposite corner so it was just within sight of the door, then he approached this door, wondering what lay beyond it. He knocked hard and ducked back behind the corner, hearing the clump of boots against stone stairs.

The door swung open and a middle-aged, heavyset man with a scowl looked out and around. His eyes narrowed, and then he sniffed as loud as a dog.

_What, does he think he can sniff me out?_ Rex wondered, amused just as the man turned his head towards the corner where Rex was hiding.

Fee fi, fo fum, I smell the blood of an EVO…um…

Hmm, gotta work on that. Fee fi, fo fum, I smell the blood of a crazy one… a bit better, Rex sure felt a bit crazy ever since waking up.

Then the guy looked all around and his eyes fixed down on Rex's bright jacket lying on the floor. He pounced on it.

_You gonna grab it in your mouth and shake it like a dog?_ Rex wondered, hoping not. He liked that jacket. Still, as the janitor went around the corner to check, Rex slipped through the door, down into the basement and pulled shut the door behind him.

A bare bulb lit the room. A wire cage in one corner surrounded boxes of dusty sports equipment, which he went towards, tempted by the number of basketballs in it. It'd take him at least two weeks to go through that many basketballs, it was amazing how easy it was to destroy a basketball with smackhands…

_Well, that won't matter if you can't do the smackhands any more…_He still unlocked the sports cage and reached in, accidentally dislodging one of the other balls to reveal a rusty, bent javelin.

"Oh yeah..." his eyes widening, he couldn't resist taking it, hefting it in his hands. He went a bit misty-eyed, imagining a build that involved a javelin or two…he'd be able to pin Van Kleiss like a butterfly to whatever wall he liked…

"Okay, just electrocute yourself then you can go beat up Van Kleiss with a javelin," he told himself and swept his eyes over the rest of the room. A workbench took up the other side of the room.

Then there was the wall at the far end with the pretty striped yellow and black stickers and the cute yellow and black depictions of someone being electrocuted.

He advanced towards it, smiling but nervous and laid the javelin on the ground.

Nervous as in, I so hope I am right.

_Well, if you're wrong, you're either already in a straitjacket somewhere, dreaming that you can fly or else you're gonna have to start studying for pop quizzes…_

He touched the box's handle. It was solid, cold, grey. He crooked the handle and the latch freed. He pulled the door open to reveal a satisfying number of fuses.

He laid his hand against the metal: it was warm, it beat with power. It made him feel like a kid who's just been handed a puppy and told to look after it. The power was his, and expectantly he reached for it, summoning the nanites. For the briefest moment it felt close but then it was like a gap opened up between him and the circuits in front of him. He stared at his hand then tried again. There wasn't even a feeling of closeness this time; it was just his hand on metal that was warm from the electricity it could control.

"This stinks!" he yelled, his temper flaring, and drew his fist back to punch it.

A hand bigger than his own caught his fist and dragged his arm back, then threw him across the floor. Rex skidded with a yelp then rolled to his feet and knelt on one knee, glaring at who'd done that.

It was the janitor, he stood glaring back at Rex. "Are you crazy?" he roared. "That's electricity! You want to fry?"

"Uh, no." _Uh, yeah._

"Get out of here!" the janitor roared at Rex.

It was now or never.

"Just one thing," Rex said, then snatched up the javelin and thrust it into the fuse box. The janitor lunged at the other end of the javelin.

"YAH!" Rex screamed.

"Ee!" the janitor screamed as the electricity passed through the javelin's metal and thus through him.

_Oh my god, why the heck did I do this?_ Rex's inner voice screamed, feeling nothing but the electricity rocketing through him. It hurt, it hurt, it hurt, it hurt! More than that, it was killing him!

Then something surged inside him, surged against the electricity and pushed it back long enough for him to release the javelin. He hit the ground hard. For a second he wasn't breathing, he just stared at the ceiling, every grainy stone inch of it.

Uttering a slow, pained groan, Rex rolled onto his side and rolled his eyes to look at the janitor.

The janitor lay just a bit unconscious, well, he hoped it was just unconsciousness. He might be dead though. Guilt moved through Rex as he forced himself to get up. His body ached fiercely, like every iota of energy had been sucked out of him. When he raised his hand up in front of his face and tried to touch his own forehead, he nearly poked himself in the eye, his hand was shaking so bad.

_If I was human though, I'd be dead,_ Rex thought, knowing it. He knew it'd not even be worth trying to summon smackhands or punkbusters…by the way he was feeling, heck, his biometrics would be practically nonexistent. Sucking in a shaky breath, Rex pushed himself up to his feet, grabbing the workbench for support and staggered towards the phone fixed to the wall.

The janitor lay still on the floor. Unconscious hopefully, not dead, Rex thought, grabbing the nearest rag. He looked at the oil stains on it, wrinkled his nose but dialled 9-1-1 and put the rag over his mouth, not close enough to touch his skin. "Need an ambulance at the high school…uh, janitor's basement," he said hurriedly, his voice satisfactorily muffled by the rag, then ended the call, put the janitor in recovery position and ran.

_Hmm, next class is History,_ he mused. He didn't feel in the mood for it though. Snatching up his discarded jacket from the corridor floor, he put it on as he walked and stuck his hands into his pockets then left the high school, heading into the maze of streets that surrounded it.

Even with the sun high in the noon sky, the streets were quiet. _I guess everyone's at work._ The roads were cracked at intervals. The shops were plain and all had metal shutters hanging half-down them. He'd not been sure exactly where he was heading until he reached it: the basketball court. He interlaced his fingers with the chain link, glad for its cool touch on his tingling fingers, then sank to the concrete.

Electrocution didn't wake me up from this nightmare, he thought soberly. Jumping off a building seemed a bit more dangerous a way to wake up now.

_What if what I thought was normal, was a dream?_ He wondered, drawing his knees up to his chest. He pictured his bedroom, the house he was living in. would it be so bad to have all this? _Holiday as my mom, Six as my dad?_

God help him, he wanted it too. He wanted them as parents. His parents.

He rested his cheek against the cool metal of the chain link fence. What about curing EVOs though? In this world, he was in danger of turning into an EVO at any time just like everyone else, his friends, who'd stand up to the EVOs…?

_I don't care,_ a voice whispered inside him. _Just give me this normal life…please, just a taste of it…_

His brown eyes sharpened. He slowly got up, looked at the city around him. His mouth tightened into a firm line, then he set off with purpose, he walked home, passing the white picket fences with barely a wince at their normalcy.


	4. Chapter 4

Thanks for the reviews, Lilly, Phantomgirl96, MickeyRules, its Danni and Emma!

* * *

Chapter 4

He was home. He touched the garden gate: it was smooth with white paint. The latch moved easily and he stepped onto the narrow garden path of pretty little grey stones, bordered by some scented little white flowers (alyssum in case you're curious). A lone rose bush spread its buds promisingly below the wide windowsill that was painted a smooth dark green. That made Rex smile: Six had definitely chosen that colour.

He searched his pockets as he approached the front door and found a little brass key in his left jacket pocket. It slid into the lock like butter and turned easily, letting him into the hallway he'd left this morning in such a rush that he'd not really seen it, just the beige carpet and the pale honey painted hallway.

There were three photos arranged diagonally on the wall by the stairs. Rex examined them curiously, thinking less about photo manipulation this time. In one of them, he was there, smiling cockily with Six and Holiday—Mom and Dad, he reminded himself—standing behind him. He looked maybe ten years old in the photo, his hair slightly longer than he wore it now, and they were in the park, a skateboard in his hands. The photo below it was of Holiday and Six, Six with his arm protectively around Holiday's shoulder, and a warm smile on Holiday's face.

The hallway smelled sweet, and was warm with the scent of something cooking in the kitchen.

"Rex? Is that you?" Holiday's voice called beyond the kitchen door and he stepped quickly towards it, pushed the kitchen door open and threw his rucksack back into the hallway behind him. "Yeah…Mom, it's me."

She smiled, standing at the stove, putting on some oven gloves and took some hot bread from the oven. It wafted the savoury scent of garlic and parsley butter and Rex breathed it in.

"Get the plates out, honey?" Holiday asked.

"Sure…" Rex swept his eyes over the cupboards then pulled open two of them. There were glasses in one and plates and bowls in the other.

Holiday gave him a curious look.

"Thirsty," he said and grabbed a glass to demonstrate, and she turned back to chopping the bread into chunks. He noisily opened the fridge and grabbed a carton of orange juice, stayed as noisy as possible while opening two of the drawers, finding cutlery in the second drawer. He drank the glass of orange juice quickly then grabbed the knives and forks, setting them down on the counter.

"Thanks honey. Could you get your dad from the garage?"

"Sure." He went out the back door at the other end of the kitchen and glanced at the garden then he went to the garage door.

Inside, at the workbench with a light shining down on his work, Six worked with a soldering iron and a piece of solder, lightly applying it to a circuit board. Curious, Rex cast his eyes over the rest of the workroom. The shelves were lined with paint cans, and an iron cupboard took up another wall, secured with a hefty padlock. A skateboard leaned against the wall, he thought he recognised it from the photo in the hallway.

"Hey Six," Rex said absent-mindedly, wandering over to the skateboard, then slapped his forehead.

Six raised his head immediately. "What did you just call me?"

"What do you mean, Dad?" Rex played innocent, picking it up and spun one of its wheels idly.

"Hmm," Six smiled thinly then shook his head. "I thought you called me by an old nickname I used to have."

"Oh?" Rex played nonchalant. "What name was it?"

"Maybe I'll tell you another time. Your mother'll be wondering where we are." With finality he took the soldering iron over to the locked up cupboard, spun open the combination padlock and put the soldering iron on one of the shelves inside it. Rex craned his neck as the flash of an edge hung inside the cupboard caught his eye, and his heart missed a beat, certain that he'd just seen one of Six's katanas, hung up neatly inside it…

But then Six closed the door, spun the combination padlock closed and led the way from the garage, expecting Rex to follow him. Casting one last look at the cupboard, Rex did follow, but his mind couldn't drop the image of the katana, and how it'd gleamed…like it was waiting for battle.

"How were classes?" Holiday sprinkled some parmesan cheese over her spaghetti bol then Six took it from her.

"Good enough. Could I hang out with Noah for a bit tonight?" It'd been starting to get on his mind that he should tell Noah that he wasn't crazy and that earlier had just been a practical joke, so that he wouldn't hand Rex in to the local straitjacket store. Also, he wouldn't mind finding out if he had better basketball skills in this alternate reality than he did back home…a victory over Noah would be sweet enough to sustain him forever.

Six looked towards the window though then shook his head. Outside it was close to getting dark, the sky going through a sunset. "It's too close to curfew."

"Curfew?" Rex had forgotten about this. "Come on, who'll catch me?"

"No Rex," this time it was Holiday who spoke severely. "If the Providence patrols catch you, you'll be in a world of trouble. You're staying in with us."

"Curfew sucks," Rex grumbled.

"Better than being eaten by an EVO."

"As if it could," Rex scoffed before he could stop himself.

Keeping a straight face, Six agreed. "An EVO would find you hard to chew. Now. You can do your homework in the living room. It's your mom's turn to choose a movie to watch tonight."

Rex made a face, his plan to escape already scuppered. He missed the amount of space at Providence…it'd made it way easier to sneak out…his room wasn't even big enough to try again to activate the nanites. Smackhands would destroy it all…and these versions of Holiday and Six would ground him until he was at least twenty he was sure.

When they go to sleep, he decided. Then I'll sneak out. He just wanted to see a bit more of the city, figure it out a bit more…and maybe see this version of Providence in action. He grabbed his schoolbag and rummaged around in it until he found some kind of diary, flicked through it, and stopped. He'd been here one day, yet his own handwriting greeted him from the pages. Scrawls of homework details, scribbled phone numbers, frown faces doodled next to names he must dislike. It felt like he'd stepped halfway inside a movie, but this movie was of his own life.

He dropped his satchel on the living room floor and pulled out a small handful of pens and a few books, and opened the homework diary. He sprawled comfortably on the floor and began twirling a pen between his fingers as he thought. Not about homework, but about this reality. Something began bugging him, a really unpleasant something.

"Hey…Mom?" Rex asked hesitantly and she immediately gave him her attention, "Hmm, honey?"

"Uh, psych homework…theoretically…could someone make up a whole…life? Like, overnight? Like wake up and forget their life and think that they'd lived another life instead?"

"Theoretically…yes," her voice was already musing. "There's false memories, there's neurological conditions where the brain will take cues because it can't remember, and construct elaborate things from those cues, there's…"

"Thanks," Rex scribbled something random down. "Um, neuro what?"

"Neurological," she said patiently.

"Neurological," he winced over the word, hating it already. He started to wonder if this could be something to do with blackouts. Back in the reality he was more familiar with, he'd known that he'd suffered at least one blackout and forgotten everything before it, he'd become a new person as soon as Six had dug him out of the rubble when he was ten years old.

But this…this was a whole different world. Did I dream up a whole past then? Could it be a psych default? The action of a disoriented mind?

_Concentrate on enjoying having them as parents then_, he decided.

As the movie played, he cast a surreptitious look at Six and Holiday. Holiday lay sprawled on the sofa, her head on the edge of Six's lap. Her eyes were open though, not on the movie, not relaxed, she looked at Rex and he ducked his gaze back into the homework diary.

Six's hand was draped over the back of the sofa, Rex saw when he next flicked his eyes up at them. Hmm, he thought, curious, and noted it in his homework diary. _Why doesn't he keep his hand on her? Why doesn't she lie properly with her head on his lap?_

He made a small sound and shifted his shoulder as though he was about to look at them, and Six's hand immediately dropped to Holiday's shoulder, and Holiday's head rested back slightly more, she made a small sound almost like a laugh, then flicked her eyes at Rex, as though curious.

After a while they relaxed again, thinking Rex was clueless. He frowned to himself. Was his seemingly perfect new reality a bit more fragile than it'd seemed? Either Six and Holiday were going through marriage difficulties or they were lying about something.

Finally the movie was over. He faked a yawn and stuffed the books back into his satchel. "That was fun," he said.

Six raised an eyebrow at him. "Good to have you spend the evening with us for once, Rex."

Oh my goodness, there was affection hidden in those words, as formal as they were.

"So…Dad," this time the word came more naturally. "Earlier, you said you had a nickname? What was it? Which workplace?"

The man hesitated. "Six…it was Providence."

"Six…that's a weird nickname." Rex smiled. "How'd you get that?"

"Drank six bottles of mountain dew in an hour and survived," Six said.

Rex stared.

"He's joking," Holiday smiled. "Don't even think of trying it!"

"Really? Come on, Six…what was it really? How did you get that nickname?" Rex pressed.

"Crashed six cars."

"Also a joke," Holiday cut in hastily.

"Please Dad, seriously!"

"No. Enough. Rex, go to bed." Six's voice was getting sharper.

"Come on Dad!" Rex stared at him. "I was just asking."

"He's not comfortable talking about Providence, Rex," Holiday said quietly. "Neither am I."

"Did you work there too?" Rex said eagerly.

"Yes," Holiday said distinctly reluctant.

"What were you…a scientist?"

"Yes." She lowered her eyes.

"I bet you were a cool scientist," Rex said finally.

"She was," this time it was Six. He spoke with finality, got up and left the room. Holiday cast a worried look after him, and went to kneel by Rex.

"He's just not comfortable talking about Providence," Holiday said quietly, reaching out to stroke Rex's hair. "Please, please don't provoke him about it. He isn't Six any more. He's your father, David Storm."

"And you're not Dr Holiday any more, let me guess," Rex said, hoping he wouldn't have to check the post tomorrow morning as that'd need him to wake up early.

"That's right," she said sadly. Darn she didn't tell him any more than that.

"You loved that work, didn't you?" Rex said suddenly, it was impossible to miss the sadness in her voice.

She nodded. "It was hard, but it was rewarding. When I lost that job…it…I lost choices."

"I'm sorry," he said suddenly.

She smiled and tousled his hair. "It's not your fault, Rex. We got the most important thing there, your father and I met there. That's what means the most to me."

He impulsively reached up and kissed her on the cheek. "Love you Mom."

"Love you too. Now go to bed."

He obeyed, he went to his bedroom. He took his sneakers off, and his shirt and jacket, then lay under the covers, waiting for the rest of the house to fall silent, waiting to sneak out.


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the reviews, Phantomgirl96, Peacexfreedom, Tigerlily99, KokoroHagane, Emma and Ylva :-)

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Asleep

Chapter 5

He pushed the window open, leaned out to look at the view below. It'd be an easy drop onto the outstretching kitchen roof below and from there into the garden. Without knowing it, he was sketching out his escape plan in his mind. He climbed out, dropped silently and padded lightly across the kitchen roof, then down onto the small path. He moved across to the hedge then lightly pushed the branches aside to look at the road outside.

It was empty, not even a single car parked along it.

He pushed his way through the hedge then brushed the bruised branches back into place behind him. He adjusted his gloves, zipped up his jacket then set off, determined to see more of this city. He wanted to see Providence in action now that he knew that they patrolled the city for EVOs. _Strict reconnaissance_, he told himself. _Don't get involved unless you want to be caught and dissected._ He suppressed a shudder.

The pavement was less well tended than he remembered. There were old cracks in some of the paving stones, as though something heavy had fallen onto them, and moss had crawled out to fill the cracks. He stepped around the lines, a bit spooked.

There were no streetlights either. His eyes adjusted to the dark quickly as he strode towards the town. Every shop he passed was behind a thick set of padlocked metal shutters. There weren't even trash cans anywhere. When he looked into a gap between a set of buildings, he saw a security gate had been set there, preventing anyone from escaping down the alley, and its top wound high with barbed wire and a voltage sign fixed to the wall claimed it to be an electric fence.

_It's just an alleyway_, he thought incredulously. Every time he passed an alleyway he found the same thing. All the shops barred and shuttered, every escape route covered, and the city was utterly silent.

He pulled up the collar of his jacket, telling himself it was because of the cold air and not because of the prickles on the back of his neck.

Something crackled far up ahead and he walked towards it, drawn to the sound.

It was a loudspeaker. As he came closer, the voice boomed from it. "You are in a restricted zone. Cease movement. You are in a restricted zone. We will shoot."

Then the sound shut off and a hail of gunfire exploded in the night.

Before he knew it he was running, an old instinct rising in him to get into the battle. His heart pounded as he forced himself to stop only the corner away from the continuing gunfire, hearing the bullets sound against metal and then the shatter of glass, and then a scream and another scream, a man's voice. "She's in labour! We need to get to the hospital!" his voice was shrill, his wife was still screaming. "We need help! Please help us!" then his voice exploded into an inhuman roar of pain.

Then silence.

_Did they shoot him? Them? Shoot a pregnant woman?_ Rex felt panic surge inside himself, he'd never imagined such brutality could exist. There was buzzing in his ears.

Then there was a screech of metal.

"Open fire!" this time the voice wasn't affected by a loudspeaker. The voice was even familiar, an accent but still crisp with the presence of violence.

Gunfire blazed again. His fingers biting into the brick wall that shielded him from the scene, Rex inched towards the edge, he had to see, his heart was loud in his ears or else the gunfire was deafening him.

Caught in the blaze of headlights from a truck crossing with the far less powerful headlights of a small car, men were stooped, shooting at the car as the car roof buckled and groaned and then something pushed through it with a roar. He could faintly hear the woman still screaming.

_The husband must have gone EVO_, Rex realised faintly. _The woman must still be in the car_.

The Providence men were all shooting at the monster but none of them were moving towards the car, none of them were trying to get the woman.

_I need my nanites_, Rex realised with a rush of desperation. Clenching his fists he raised them to his face, stared at them and felt the nanites inside him surge.

Metal grew out over his skin, his fists morphed into smackhands and then he ran forward and hit the EVO, sending it flying, then he smashed the top off the car, dropped the smackhands and activated the Boogie pack. Exhilaration soared through his whole body and the engines. He punched the air in triumph and looked down, grinning despite the situation into the twisted wreckage of the car. Then he dropped the smile, became more serious.

"Don't worry, I'm here to help," he told the woman urgently, grabbed her. "I will take you to the hospital."

She stared at him in terror.

"I'm a good EVO," he told her fiercely, holding her eyes with his own. "And then I'll save your husband."

"Save him first," she whispered, gripping her swollen abdomen.

"Fine," Rex didn't waste time arguing. He set her down on the pavement then flew at the EVO, the Boogie Pack sucked back into his body and he grabbed the EVO's thick scaly arm. There was buzzing in his ears but not enough to block out a familiar voice whisper, "Rex?"

He turned to look before he could stop himself.

There stood Callan, a gun in his hand, his eyes wide. He wore more armour than he did usually. He saw the guns shake among the men, but couldn't see the bullets flying out from them, only heard the buzzing in his ears.

The EVO began to shrink against Rex's grip.

Of their own accord, the nanites activated inside Rex, and he felt his right hand straighten out and form the sword. His whole body shook as the bullets hit the sword, and then the sword blade shattered. Rex's knees went weak and he fell down behind the newly-healed man.

"Dude," he murmured, "Your wife needs you." Then he passed out.

_His dreams were brief, bright green trees waving in winds above white picket fences, the chopping of helicopter blades, the bang of something against his chest, banging like a set of drums. Six! He felt like screaming._

Then a hand slapped him.

He opened his eyes slowly, looked up blearily. "Huh?"

"You are in a world of trouble," Callan's voice said. Rex's eyes sharpened until Callan swam into vision.

"Callan," Rex's tongue felt thick.

"My men know about you, and they might not keep quiet," Callan's voice was low and furious. "You run back to your parents and you NEVER tell anyone about tonight."

"Are the people okay?" Rex asked weakly. "You aren't gonna dissect them or something?"

"They are at the hospital right now," Callan said coldly. "They will not be dissected. But if you don't go right now, my men will arrest you and you do not want to know what'll happen. Now go!"

"I don't know what's going on!" Rex yelled, fury surging up inside him, tears sprung to his eyes, angry tears. "Who am I? What's wrong with my nanites? What's wrong with this world!"

"Just go!" Callan roared, pulled Rex to his feet and shoved him.

Rex ran blindly back into the maze of streets, ran but could still hear the men protesting Callan's orders. "Sir! We should contain him!"

"That is an order," Callan's voice was steely. "Stand down."

"Explain that to Fell," one of them said quietly, bitterly. "You just let the only cure we've ever seen run away."

When he was sure no one was following him, Rex sagged down against a wall, his knees were so weak, his body so tired and his heart pumping so fast.

Callan knew about him, when he'd looked at Rex, he'd recognised him if he'd not known him like a friend. He'd known about Rex. How then? Why had he let Rex go?

He looked down at his trembling fingers. There was something different about his nanites, a different feel to them. There was still a thin coating of metal over his fingers.

He scratched at it gently but it didn't dislodge.

He put his gloves back on, hiding his metal fingers from sight. His skin tingled, but he started walking again, silent as a ghost, his brown eyes solemn. He walked back to the house, pushed his way back through the hedge and stood in the garden for a bit, his hands in his jacket pockets and looked up at the windows. A bit of light peeked between the curtains of the room he knew was Six and Holiday's.

He couldn't think of them as Mom and Dad. He'd tried, but he just couldn't.

Finally he heaved a sigh and went towards the garage, wanting something more than he'd ever wanted anything.

He unlatched the garage door and let himself in, fumbled for the light pull, heard it click against the wall as he closed his eyes against the immediate flood of light until he could adjust to it, and went to the cupboard. He looked at the combination padlock then went to the workbench, searched for something useful but there were no screwdrivers, nothing he could use to remove the hinges. I'm learning that combination, he promised himself. All he could find was a torch. He took it. He pressed his face against the cupboard, shining the torch through into the cupboard and looked in at the only thing he could find that could remind him of the world he wanted back, gazed at the distant gleam of Six's katanas.


	6. Chapter 6

I will do proper thank yous at the end, I do owe you guys a lot for encouraging me to get this story down onto file! For now, thank you to my reviewers, Ylva, Phantomgirl96, Lilly, Peacexfreedom, MacGaulyver, Kaylee and Emma :-) Also, just to promise, I'm aiming to complete this story pretty soon, I know what's gonna happen to Rex hehe ;-)

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Asleep

Chapter 6

The cold of the garage concrete slowly seeped through, numbing Rex until he woke up from where he'd fallen asleep on the floor in front of the cupboard, the dusty beams of sunlight through the window attesting to it being morning. Above him the naked lightbulb still shone, and then there was a harsh click of the light pull and it blinked out. On the floor beside him the torch lay, its batteries dead.

A pair of hands grabbed him by the arms, pulling him up. "Rex?" Six demanded him to wake up.

"Wha—?" his teeth chattered so much that he nearly bit his tongue off. Six guided the teen back into the house and half-carried him up the stairs to his room, dropped him onto his bed.

Holiday's warm hands touched his forehead and he heard her gasp. "Dave, he's freezing! Put some water on to boil and turn up the heating." She began arranging the blankets around him, then called out, "Grab the blankets from our room, they'll still be warm."

Lowering her voice, she talked to Rex alone now, her voice threaded with distress. "Why did you sneak out, Rex?" Rex could only half hear her though. "Were you running away?"

He might've mumbled something but it was indistinct and she sighed and pushed away his blankets, replacing them with warmer ones and re-tucked him in. "I wouldn't blame you," she whispered miserably. "I ask too much of you. I just can't let her die."

Six came in with an armful of blankets. Holiday began wrapping them around Rex. He could smell the soft scent of Holiday's perfume, a citrusy kind. "Is he awake?"

"He's only half-conscious," she said quietly, pushing back a stray strand of her black hair. "He must have been in the cold all night. We'll have to warm him up slowly. Is the hot water ready? Do one cup of tea and add a drinking straw."

"He is lousy at drinking tea without burning his mouth," Six agreed stoically and left the room to obey Holiday's orders.

Holiday wasted no time, reaching under Rex's bed and pulled out a black holdall. She unzipped it with trembling fingers, shot one look at her watch. "Five minutes," she murmured and dug into the holdall, took out a slim black case. She clicked it open to reveal a needle and a half empty vial of clear liquid. She checked Rex, peeling back one eyelid and he didn't respond, he'd fallen back to sleep. She heaved a regretful sigh then rolled back the jacket sleeve on his right arm to above his elbow. There were two healed marks there, and now she pressed the needle between the marks, slid it in and emptied the needle's contents into Rex's veins.

Rex jerked awake at the prick of pain even though his body was tired, and the needle jerked painfully. Holiday made a small sound of alarm and grabbed a piece of dressing from inside the holdall, pressing it to the wound before she removed the needle.

"What's in that?" Rex asked dizzily.

"You don't remember?" she whispered, pain crossing her features.

"No. I don't." For the first time ever he wasn't afraid of admitting his fears, that he was dreaming, or that he might have blacked out. He was more worried about what Holiday had injected into him.

"Please, you'll have to wait," Holiday said softly, and put the needle back into the case, raising her head and saw Six standing in the doorway, about to drop the mug of tea. "Sandra?" he demanded. "What have you just done?"

"Antibiotics," she said but even Rex could tell she was lying.

He watched her steadily. "I can tell when you're lying, Holiday. What was really in that needle?"

Rex pulled his wrist away, clamping his hand around his elbow to staunch the thin flow of blood down his skin. Six grabbed Holiday and pushed her against the wall. "What was that?" he demanded of her.

She closed her eyes and turned her face away.

"Tell me!"

"Please," Rex flexed his arm painfully. "Holiday, what the heck did you just inject into me?"

Holiday shot him a startled look, then that look changed to horror. Rex didn't pay too much attention to that though as the injection mark had just started bleeding again.

"Rex, just keep applying pressure to it," Six ordered. Rex obeyed, pressing the dressing against the crook of his elbow. Six picked up the needle case. "You, sit down," he ordered Holiday.

She obeyed, looking down at the floor in obvious shame.

Six turned the case over in his hands, his fingers stopped on a dark label. He raised it to the light and read the name there. "Fell," he said finally, his brow creasing in anger. "Holiday, have you been talking to him?"

Fell…Rex struggled to remember who that was, it rang a bell but not a recent one.

"Yes," Holiday whispered.

"Why?" Six yelled, then threw the needle against the wall in anger. "He wanted to ruin this, he wanted to dissect Rex. How could you continue his work? How could you use something from Fell on Rex?"

A tear rolled down Holiday's cheek.

With a cold rush of fear, Rex now remembered. Dr Fell was the Providence scientist who'd wanted to dissect him when Six first found him, when they'd first found out that he could cure EVOs.

"How did he find out about Rex?" Six demanded. "We don't hunt EVOs any more. He can't even cure EVOs any more!"

This whole world made no sense to Rex. "Yes I can!" he yelled triumphantly.

"No you can't," Holiday whispered in shame.

There was silence between the three of them as her words sank in.

"Last night—" Rex began, just as Six stated, "That needle. You just injected him with—" then they both shut up.

"It paralyses nanites," Holiday whispered.

Rex looked down at his elbow, feeling sick. As though responding to his thoughts, the wound throbbed a bit more, and then he peeled away the dressing, as more blood oozed out, but it was kinda more like pink. "Um, Holiday?" he asked faintly, raising his arm for her to see.

"Your nanites…" Holiday moved towards him but Six pushed her away. "You've betrayed him," he reminded her. "You've betrayed me."

"This…oh god, it's so complicated," Holiday pressed her knuckles into her forehead. Her eyes were still full of pain as she looked at Rex and then at Six. "I don't even know where to start!"

"Have you injected Rex with this before?" Six said finally.

"Yes," she said. "Rex told me to."


	7. Chapter 7

Some people were confused by chapter 7, I wish there was a way to do that chapter in show rather than tell but I cannot allow myself to do flashbacks: this story is from Rex's point of view and has to be limited to what he knows and what he finds out.

I can understand why it is confusing, so duly apologise to any readers confused by it. I'm working on chapter 8 as we speak but in the meantime have written a quick entry of what happened the week before Rex woke up in this world, as related by Six and Holiday, in the form of if Rex was using that diary he uses for amnesia. I'll try to be brief.

**Monday:** Noah beat me in basketball. Basketball bounced off the board and got me in the chin, he made me go to the school nurse, what a sissy. But I think I'm gonna get ill and graze my knees a lot more often…that nurse is like a cross between Halle Berry and Selena Gomez. I think I might've asked her to marry me. Got the flu shot permission form as soon as she promised she was the one to do the jabs.

**Tuesday:** Went to Holiday to ask her to sign my medical form. Kinda interrupted a phone call she was having with the scientist guy that tried to dissect me a few years ago. Fells has her sister hostage, apparently she's gone EVO so he's allowed to keep her. He said he'll dissect her. Holiday cried herself to sleep, I got her to have some tea. Was tempted to dose it with some of those sleeping drugs I know she keeps in her science kit but decided not to. Snuck out to try and break Holiday's sister out, figured I could cure her. Instead she beat me up, Fell nearly caught me and I ended up limping home. Six caught me climbing in through the kitchen window. Relocated my shoulder myself. Went to sleep.

**Wednesday:** Holiday woke me up by yelling at me. Snuck into her office and locked her out. Hacked into her computer and phoned Fell. Asked him what it'd take to make him keep from dissecting Holiday's sister. He said I should hand myself over. I actually thought about it, you know? I had this totally awesome mental image of setting free all the EVOs to rampage and hopefully crush Fell to mush. Then I had the less awesome mental image of Fell strapping me to a table and cutting me into pieces. Urgh. Holiday managed to break back into the office and ordered me to drop whatever deal I might be making with Fell. Then Fell said, If I let him test one compound on me, he'll keep Holiday's sister safe personally. He said it could paralyse nanites. If it could do that, he could inoculate the world. So I said yes. I said yes because I saw the look on Holiday's face. I know what a vaccine would mean to her, I know what she's been working towards all these years on her own. And because I know her sister's her only family. I don't really have family, but if I did have family, I'd do anything to keep them safe, right? I'm glad Holiday and Six act like they're my parents. It may be only an act but I like it. So Holiday got the paralytic compound from the park, that's where we did the deal, I kept watch. She tested it on a blood sample and when it didn't dissolve anything, she injected it into me.

**Thursday:** Can't do any builds. Tried to do basketball instead. Couldn't get in the mood for it though. Threw the ball at Noah when he told me I was probably going down with the flu. He insisted on going to the nurse. Why not? Good enough idea. Note to self, get Six to sign the flu shots form.

**Friday:** Gotta sleep. Six wants a hunt tonight. Holiday and I have the story between us. She'll phone Six and tell him my bios have crashed before we find any EVOs, then it'll be okay and he'll bring me home and then Holiday can 'find out' that my nanites aren't responding any more. Guess I'll be getting more free evenings from now on.

**Saturday:** Okay, feel like I need to scrape my guts off the wall that EVO threw me into. Thanks a lot doc.

**Sunday:** Got to sleep in, then tests. More tests. Kinda funny seeing as Holiday knows why, but Six's real worried. Wish I could tell him. But Holiday says he'd kill Fell and get killed in the process. I half agree. I don't think anything could kill Six.

**Monday:** got the flu shot. Crashed shortly after. Noah fainted after his shot so I won $10 from him. I threw up an hour after the shot so he won it back.

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Thanks for the reviews Phantomgirl96, jessk13, Kaylee, Lilly, its Danni, Peacexfreedom, Honest, Ylva and troyboltonsgirl :-)

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Chapter 7

This world was far too screwed up for Rex: there was no universe in which he'd ever want to be without his powers. They were like his…well, they were as natural to him as breathing, swimming, running, walking. "Why," he asked Holiday, his voice trembling with rage, "would I ever ask you to paralyse my nanites?"

"You don't remember, do you?" Holiday's voice was soft. "You blacked out again, didn't you, Rex? It must have been recently. Did it happen in the night? While you slept? Please Rex, it's important. When did you forget? How much can you remember?"

"I remember who you two are," Rex said defiantly. "I remember you're not my parents." He pointed at Six. "I remember you telling me we'd find out who my parents are. I remember you training me. I remember Noah. I remember curing EVOs."

"That's more than he usually remembers," Six murmured.

"Which day was it?" Holiday persisted. "Do you remember last week, last Wednesday?"

"No." It was Wednesday today. It was Tuesday he'd woken up in this weird world. One whole day since this nightmare began, but it felt much longer. "I…woke up on Tuesday," he said finally.

"Before that, what do you remember?" Six asked quietly.

Rex shook his head, troubled. "I'm not sure any more when I'm dreaming. I thought this was the dream. I thought in my real life, that I worked for Providence. I was their secret weapon."

Six gave a short laugh at that then glared at Holiday. "So now he can't tell us why he told you to inject him with that…poison," his voice held a hint of bitterness. "I'm supposed to trust you when you betrayed me."

"David…Six…" Holiday reached for his hand and gripped it tight. He looked tempted to break it but Rex glared at him and he stayed still.

"I let my heart rule my head," Holiday said quietly. "It's not something I usually do…in fact, I've only done it since only having you two to rely on and to keep me sane. Rex found out and he took the choice away from me. That is what happened."

"So I'm a hero?" Rex asked optimistically.

"No, you're an idiot," Six said, making Rex scowl.

Holiday sighed. "It was…well, you don't remember, Rex, so let me put it this way. Last week you tried to bug me when I was on the phone, you needed something done for school. I told you to go away. You decided to eavesdrop instead."

"What would I bug you about?"

Holiday shrugged. "I can't even remember now. I was talking to Fell…he was explaining to me why my sister hadn't been in contact with me for a week."

Oh…

Now Rex remembered Holiday's sister. The big spider-like incurable EVO that was locked in Providence's basement.

"She's gone EVO," Holiday said quietly. "Providence caught her and caged her…just another EVO." She exchanged a sad look with Six. There was understanding now in his face, and his grip changed on her hand, moving more protectively over her fingers. "Fell promised to make her his next dissection."

"That bastard," Rex hissed.

"That is what you said," Holiday said. "In Spanish. Along with a lot of other unrepeatable words. I only wish you could remember me making you wash your mouth out with soap afterwards."

"So then I went out and thumped him with smackhands, right?" Rex said hopefully.

"Uh well…"

"So that's why you broke curfew last time," Six guessed with a sigh. "I remember catching you coming in the kitchen window that time. I thought you'd gone out to fight or cure EVOs without me."

"You didn't manage to thump Fell," Holiday went red. "Fell contacted me after that…and said that my sister thumped you instead when you tried to release her."

Oh. Rex could actually imagine that happening after the last time he'd had the pleasure of meeting her…his night vision was not awesome and hers unfortunately was.

"So then what?" Rex demanded getting a bit irked by how well Holiday and Six were deflating his ego. All he needed was Bobo to wander in and tell him that his skills with girls sucked.

"Then you hacked into my computer to find out how to contact Fell. You made a deal with him, you were about to give yourself over in exchange and I cancelled that deal. So you offered yourself up as a guinea pig instead."

"You are more than an idiot," Six said finally. "Both of you. He could've asked you to inject acid into Rex and he'd be dead."

"I analysed the compound," Holiday said defensively. Six looked a little reassured by that. "It was definitely entirely paralytic and I tested it on a blood sample from Rex, I didn't just inject it straight into him. It paralysed the nanites in the blood sample but did not affect any other cells."

Rex breathed a sigh of relief at that.

"Were you ever going to tell me?" Six asked. "Were you ever going to explain why Rex couldn't cure EVOs? I nearly got him killed the night after you must've injected him with it."

"He didn't tell me that you were going on a hunt," Holiday replied defensively.

"Yep, that sounds like me," Rex said.

"Rex, you got smashed into a building," Six said. "You were lucky not to die. You received at least concussion."

"Huh, so Noah was right about the EVO throwing me into a building then," Rex said amused. "Maybe I should've taken him up on the offer of a straitjacket. But concussion…paralysing my nanites…could those have caused me to blackout?"

"Have your abilities come back?" Holiday asked.

Rex grinned. "Glad you asked." He stretched one arm out and changed it into B.F.S, knocking a bulletin board off the wall with the blade. "Yeah, it's back," he said and calmly let his arm change back to normal.

"So the compound doesn't even work any more?" Six asked. Holiday reached for Rex's arm and examined the faint pink stain on his skin. "I think his nanites ejected it," she said slowly. "But I'm not sure why. Or how. How would they know to build an immunity to it?"

"I think I know," Six said. "The flu."

"Flu?" Holiday raised an eyebrow.

"You remember that Rex was bugging you to do something for school? Well that was it. He needed a signature for a school form allowing him to have the flu jab."

"He opted for a flu jab?" Holiday stared.

"Yes. Something about a cute school nurse."

"Yep, that sounds like me," Rex sighed.

"So I signed it instead of you." His voice remained level instead of accusing. "He had that jab on the Monday. He blacked out on the Tuesday. I would guess that the flu jab broke the paralysis of his nanites. It might even have caused his blackout. If you'd told me about this from the beginning..."

"You'd have gone ninja on Fell's ass," Rex said.

"And Providence would have executed you," Holiday said. Rex looked at her but she looked away, her eyes settled on the undrunk mug of tea. She reached out and touched it: it was cold. "Rex, you'd better get some sleep," she said finally. "Six, stay with him to make sure he doesn't do anything idiotic."

"Agreed." Six said. "What will you do?"

"Double-check Rex's readings. Tell Fell the deal's off."

"And then what'll happen? To your sister?" Six asked.

Holiday sighed. "I've had enough time to think about it. She…she's an EVO now. She's not my sister any more."

"I'm sorry I couldn't cure her," Rex said quietly.

She blinked, startled. "How did you know that?" there was a quiver of excitement in her voice. "Did you remember?"

_Damn,_ he thought, scrambling for an excuse. In this universe, Holiday hadn't told him that her sister was an incurable. _Think, Rex, think..._He shook his head quickly. "Just a feeling. You said she beat me up, right? I bet I tried to cure her first."

Her shoulders slumped a bit. "Ah. Yes. Fell said you didn't manage to cure her. He's calling her an incurable. And if she really is…incurable, that means that really my sister is dead. So the deal can't matter any more." Then she left the room, unable to say any more, her shoulders starting to shake. Six and Rex listened to her walk down the stairs.

"You heard the doctor. Get some sleep, Rex," Six said authoritatively, finally and leaned his back against the wall, looking weary himself. "Once you recover though, I'm tripling your training. You've slacked off long enough."

"Sure...whatever..." Rex stifled a yawn, climbing under his blankets. He vaguely remembered his head hitting the pillow. After a while of darkness, he started dreaming of random things like a yellow brick road bordered with white picket fence, and of skipping with Holiday and Six, that Six was the tin man and Holiday the lion, _so I'm the scarecrow?_ He remembered wondering in disgust and then picking a fight with Six, telling him something like, 'Hey, I make things out of metal, shouldn't I be the tin man?' and then Six saying 'Well you need a brain more than a heart.'

He woke up, looked at Six. "I think Holiday's gone and done something to do with courage," he said.

"Huh?" Six raised an eyebrow.

"I think she's gone to Fell. I think she's going to try and cut a deal."

"She would not exchange you for her," Six said severely.

"Yeah well, she might exchange herself for her sister's safety."

Six glanced out of the window. "It's past curfew."

"Yeah because a scary night of EVOs and Providence soldiers will stop her from going to confront her way scarier EVO sister and Providence soldiers and scientists," Rex said.


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks everyone for being so patient, I've been dealing with way too many family emergencies this week lol.  
Thanks to my reviewers: Honest, Peacexfreedom, Phantomgirl96, Lilly, Kristie, Tigerlily99, MacGaulyver, Emma, its Danni, and Kaylee.  
The next chapter will be arriving quicker.

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Asleep

Chapter 8

The front door was still ajar as Six ran down the stairs. "Sandra!" he yelled. He leapt the last three stairs, grabbed the door and slammed it against the wall. "Sandra!"

Outside the street was empty, a cold wind twisting a spiral of dead leaves through the gutters, and stars glittered coldly from the darkness overhead. Six's eyes burned as he turned back to Rex.

"Come on!" Rex reached for the door but Six slammed the door shut before he could. He pinched his forehead with his fingers, trying to be rational. Rex had never seen him so rattled. "Six! We have to get her!" Rex insisted.

"No. I need to think…" Six's voice was thin with strain. "She'll have gone to Providence…but why? Has she gone to turn herself in? Or to tell them where to find you? Or to turn me in? No, she'd never do that. She'd only turn herself in…but right now?" his voice rose in anger. He cast his eyes over the hallway until he saw the letter lying facedown on the carpet. The wind from the door must have knocked it from the hallway table.

Six crouched and picked it up. Rex watched him, concerned, he'd never seen his guardian so…strained, he was usually so calm and collected no matter what. Six's jaw tightened as he read the note. Then he nodded, almost to himself. "She's right," he said quietly.

"Right about what?" Rex demanded, and tried to see over Six's shoulder, but Six palmed the letter and slipped it into his pocket. "Come on. We have to go."

"To save Holiday, right?"

"Yes." Six turned and went back up the stairs. "Rex, there's a holdall under your bed. Grab it."

Rex obeyed, running to his bedroom, threw the already rumpled duvet against the wall and pulled out a big battered holdall. He surreptitiously drew the zip aside a bit to peek inside, but saw nothing more exciting than food rations and a few folded blankets and first aid supplies. He hoisted it onto his shoulder and went towards Holiday and Six's room, trying not to think about how they actually slept in the same room. Did Six sleep in his suit even when sharing a bed with Holiday? Heck, did Holiday ever change out of her lab coat, or at least the black skirt and orange sweater? He accidentally had a mental picture of Holiday in a negligee. _Bad, Rex!_ He told himself. _They're your parents, well foster parents I guess._

He entered their room just in time to see a gun disappear beneath Six's jacket.

_He never uses guns,_ Rex thought, aghast. It was wrong…it was like nachos with steamed vegetables, or like cheeseburgers with boiled potatoes, or like playing lacrosse.

Six turned and brushed past Rex without a word, going back down the stairs and out through the front door. He opened the garage door from there and went inside. Rex followed, heard the click of the padlock on the metal cupboard.

"That's more like it," Rex said softly, seeing his foster father take out his beloved katanas. The dim light from the naked light bulb gleamed down their edges. Six flipped them down to their smaller length and slid them up his sleeves, then went to the darker side of the garage. It took Rex's eyes a moment to adjust, and during that moment Six whipped a heavy cloth off a gleaming mass of metal.

Rex's heart stopped at the beauty of the motorbike underneath it.

"My ride," Six said before Rex could even plead. "You have your own ride."

Rex grinned. "True. Race you."

"You don't know where to go."

"Ah."

Rex retrieved the Build from his mind, his Ride. Six straddled his motorbike, turned the key in the ignition and it purred to life, he twisted the throttle and surged out from the garage, leaving Rex in his dust.

Rex raced out after him, barely catching up to him. "What's the plan then?"

The wind streamed past them, forcing both of them to raise their voices in the darkness of the streets. "Follow me." Six was brief, his concealed eyes trained on the road ahead.

Houses and then shops streamed past them, getting more and more spaced out, then it was like a blast of cooler air as they emerged into open land, the air grew more arid, drier. Six kept going even as cliffs loomed over them.

"The badlands," Rex whispered, his words vanishing on the wind. There was nothing out in the badlands, nothing lived out here, Providence couldn't be here, could it? Six kept going though, combing between narrow roads then finally turned off the road and onto a narrower dirt path. Rex's teeth chattered with how bumpy the ground was.

An overhang of rock formed over them and Six continued in under it. Finally, some metres ahead, his engine halted. Rex changed back to human and walked inside hesitantly. "Six?" he whispered, hardly able to see anything in here. "What are we doing here?"

"Come here," Six's voice drifted to him.

A shiver crawled up the back of Rex's neck.

This isn't…he said we were going to save Holiday, didn't he? Six doesn't lie. Well, my version of Six doesn't lie, but what about this one?

It unsettled him to doubt Six. But his fists couldn't unclench as he followed the sound of Six's voice. Then a lone match flared into existence, casting a tiny cone of light before settling into a small lamp, that Six set down on the floor.

"It's idiocy to go rushing off," Six said quietly. "We won't be able to go home after we get Sandra back. If any of us get injured, we'll have to come back here and sort it out ourselves—if we can."

"You mean, if we don't die," Rex was blunt.

"Yes."

Then Six took a deep breath. "I need you to stay here."

"No way." Rex's answer was immediate.

"Hear me out," Six reached out and took the holdall from Rex, unzipped it and took out a blanket, laying it on the floor. Tired, he sank his lanky form down onto it. "Rex, you have a shoot to kill order over your head. We've been lucky so far, Sandra's only had to dig a bullet once out of you but next time it might not be. You…are more valuable than either of us. It has been selfish of us not to try taking you elsewhere, to one of the other Providence bases to see if we could find someone more…sympathetic to Sandra's ideas. If Sandra and I don't survive this, I need you to go to the other Providence bases, find someone you can trust, and rebuild a life there. Get them to research you without killing you, get them to let you put your skills to use. The world needs you alive. You cannot be sacrificed for two people."

"I can't," Rex said quietly, sitting down on the edge of the blanket. He drew his knees up to his chest and rested his chin on them. "I can't let you two die. You're the only people I've ever remembered caring about."

"Being in hiding with us is holding you back," Six argued.

"And if I let you go, I know you won't be ever coming back," Rex said quietly, meeting Six's eyes. "It'd break my heart, Six."

"Fine." Six's reply was short. He opened the holdall again and took out a soda for himself then tossed another one to Rex. "I'm going to have something to drink until you come to your senses." Rex caught it automatically and popped it open, though he wasn't very thirsty. He felt queasy. He settled back on the blanket while Six sipped from the can of soda.

"So, they shot me?" Rex said finally though he wasn't very interested.

"Rib." Six motioned towards Rex's waist. "Fifth."

Rex looked down at his chest. A faint memory of pain woke up somewhere inside him.

"When I black out…why do I remember other things?" Rex asked finally, softly. "Six…I remember a whole other world. You and Holiday…and Noah…and White Knight…are there."

"White Knight?" Six's voice was sharp. "Who's he?"

"He's in charge of Providence…he was your partner." Rex began to feel a bit of déjà vu.

Six flinched. His voice was bland though. "Sandra's probably right, something psychological, your mind probably made up an explanation of what it couldn't remember. I guess Richie's death upset you."

"Richie?" Rex raised an eyebrow.

"You were there when he died," Six adjusted his tie suddenly. "I don't blame you for what happened, Rex. You know that, I always remind you of that. His death was not your fault. He chose his own death."

"White Knight dead?" Rex demanded. He sat up, put the soda aside and looked at Six expectantly. Something told him that he was onto something, that this was something he needed to know, urged him to know. "Tell me Six, tell me exactly what happened."

"When I first found you…Richie didn't trust you. He sold you out to Fell. Fell tried to dissect you. You didn't take kindly to it. The lab blew up. Richie…chose to die. I had to choose to save you."

"Thank you," Rex said softly, and drank some of the soda. It wasn't the best soda he'd ever had. He looked at the date stamp on it then shrugged. He'd had worse, right?

Six rested his back against the rock wall, and seemed to go to sleep.

White Knight died? The thought still got to Rex. He didn't like the guy, he was way too controlling, but at least it was easy to sneak around when Knight was in charge. He was confined to a box after all.

Now he's confined to another kind of box I guess, Rex thought morbidly with a shudder. His eyelids heavy, he yawned and stretched out on the blanket.

Gotta save Holiday…want to go home, he thought, his muscles relaxing despite the stress. The soda taste still lingered on his tongue, something a little too sweet.

With a slight groan Rex surrendered to sleep, knocking the soda can over with his arm. The liquid seeped over the ground in a thin stream.

Six straightened up, got to his feet. He uttered a soft sigh as he took a notepad from the holdall and a pen from his pocket. He wrote a note for Rex, then gently tucked it into the boy's fist.

Then he took out his own note from his pocket, the note from Sandra. Her handwriting was a comfort to him, especially if it should be the last thing of hers he would ever see.

David, there are 4 people in the world that matter to me. You, Rex, my sister and...well, that's what everything's been about for the last few years, hasn't it? Project 89. It worked, David. I found out last night, and I have to keep it safe no matter what. You need to keep Rex safe in case I fail. One day no matter what, we'll be together again.  
All my love,  
Sandra

Project 89. It made his heart jump in his chest when he thought of it and his jaw clenched in fear at what Holiday had done. If Fell finds out what she's carrying in her own body...she's dead. She'll be the one on the dissection table. Her and my son, or daughter, unborn or not.

"Forgive us, Rex," he said quietly, and went to his motorbike. He wheeled it outside, back into the night. His eyes stung for some reason, he took his sunglasses off for a brief moment to rub his eyes with the back of his hand, then put the sunglasses back on, got onto his motorbike and moments later, he was gone.

Rex slept on, drugged, the soda soaking into the ground.


	9. Chapter 9

Hold on guys, I'm hoping the ride will get a bit smoother. I have reasons for everything I've done, though the last few chapters haven't turned out the way I wanted them to do. I'm getting them back on track. Thanks for the reviews Honest, MacGaulyver, Peacexfreedom, Kaylee, Kristie and Phantomgirl96 and I totally don't mind the honesty as I want to get better with the writing anyway.

~Tessa

* * *

Asleep

Chapter 9

Hidden in the Badlands by Six, Rex had only taken two mouthfuls of that soda before he'd hit the floor, the soda can rolling from his fist. The soda had gone down his throat like muddy water. Maybe his nanites were wondering, Did Six have to put enough tranquilliser into it to down an elephant?

His muscles sleepily jerked as he lay on the cave floor. His heart began to pound so uncomfortably hard that he felt it in his sleep and it reverberated into his dreams, changed ever so carefully into a mechanical sound, as distant as the ocean. A beep.

The next beep sounded a little closer. The beep after that even closer. The next one rang in his ears.

His eyelids struggled to lift, and then as bright light peered through the cracks between his eyelashes, he groaned aloud and closed them again.

"Six? Did you see—"

"Holiday, I think he's—" they shut up at the same time. A hand touched his cheek. "Rex? You back with us?"

Their voices faded out again.

He sighed, felt the breath shudder through his lungs, it felt like his chest rattled with the effort. He tried again to open his eyes, but there was too much light. "Light," he croaked.

"Six? Turn the lights down," Holiday said quickly, Rex heard the hushed footsteps acutely, and then how the darkness entered his closed eyes.

He tried again to open his eyes.

Holiday was leaning over him, her eyes deep with concern. Six stood behind her, his shades off, his eyes trained on Rex. "Welcome back," he said quietly, finally.

Rex felt the corners of his lips tug. Slowly he tried to sit up, first Holiday moved to stop him but Six shook his head. "The stitches should hold," he spoke like he had experience. Instead he touched one of the buttons and Rex felt the bed beneath him raise at the head until he was nearly sitting down. He pulled a face at Six. "Hey, I can…" he tried to straighten up then yelped and fell back, a wave of exhaustion moving through him. For a moment his whole body was awake and panicky. He sank back into the pillow.

"Take it slow, Rex," Holiday encouraged. Rex surprised himself by yawning, and then slowly looked first down at himself. He was in one of the hospital beds, and looking up, saw the line of beds and recognised that he must be in the infirmary. There were a few too many machines around him, and he reached out and touched the clip on his finger, its wire trailing to a heart monitor while another tube led to an IV drip. He raised an eyebrow, and his nanites kinda sparked at his emotion, one of the machines beeped warningly.

"Nuh uh, no blowing up my equipment, Rex," Holiday laughed and turned off the heart monitor, then took the clip off Rex's finger. Her eyes were shadowed with sleeplessness but bright with joy as she looked at Rex. He felt a lump in his throat as he saw that emotion in her eyes.

"How long have I been out, doc?" Rex realised he was shirtless. He actually pushed back the covers slightly to check he at least had some pants on. Phew, he did. No repeat of that Swarm incident thank you…he couldn't miss the dressing taped to his abdomen, and the bandage over that, wrapped around his waist. He tentatively touched it with a fingertip. Holiday made a small unhappy sound. Six said nothing.

"What happened?" Rex said finally.

"You've been unconscious for a while," Holiday said quietly. "You received internal injuries, Rex."

"You fell onto a picket fence."

"Well, were thrown actually—" Holiday interjected. Now Rex remembered the last fight he'd had, with Six by his side. He'd been so confident he could take it on, on his own.

_Then the slug whipped the tail end of its body around and slammed it into Rex, sweeping him into the air._

_Like a dream, Rex saw the droplets trickle from his arms. How can it scream while moving? he thought, saw the flash of white but not what they meant. Felt his body bow with impact. Something—_

"I got skewered like a kebab on a PICKET FENCE?" the idea revolted Rex. But he remembered things now, the moment he'd looked out of the window when he'd first woken up in that room that couldn't be his, with the wooden bed, the curtains at the window…

_Suburbia…a street. White picket fence. A garden…_

_Pain rushed through him for a split second, his mouth was already opening to scream, and then the pain was gone before he could have even sunk to his knees. He sat down on the bed anyway, feeling lightheaded enough to put his head between his knees for a whole minute._

The moment he'd saved that man and his wife during curfew…

_His dreams were brief, bright green trees waving in winds above white picket fences, the chopping of helicopter blades, the bang of something against his chest, banging like a set of drums. Six! He felt like screaming._

"How long was I out?" he asked finally.

"A couple of days," Six shrugged.

"He means four days, seventeen hours, eight minutes and he's probably been counting the seconds," Holiday interpreted. Rex smiled. "Thanks guys…for holding on for me."

"It was touch and go for a long time," Six admitted. His eyes were almost angry. "Holiday had to resuscitate you at one point. You completely crashed."

"That was probably cos I electrocuted myself," Rex muttered. Like a dream he remembered back in the school in that…dream world? Alternate world? Wherever he'd been, the moment he'd thrust the rusty javelin into the fuse box and electrocuted himself and the janitor.

"You what?"

"I think I'm hoping it's just a dream…you two haven't gone rogue and left Providence, pretending that I'm your son, right?"

They both stared at him, utterly dumbstruck.

"Never mind, just a hallucination," Rex said. "That's cool. And…there weren't any janitors inexplicably electrocuted recently, right?" They were the only two people apart from Noah that he trusted enough to admit his felony to. Holiday and Six looked even more nonplussed.

He searched for a change in subject and was answered by his stomach rumbling hard enough to pull at the stitches. He grinned sheepishly. "Um, can I have something to eat?"

Holiday smiled and looked at Six. "Come to think of it, you haven't eaten either."

"Does that mean we can get pizza?" Rex interjected eagerly but Holiday shook her head and went to the phone, called through to the cafeteria. "Can someone bring over some food and drink for Agent Six and Rex? Half a burrito for Rex. Nothing spicy in it though, make it bland."

"Only half? And no peppers?" Rex demanded. "Now that's just cruel."

"Your body's still half asleep," Holiday said firmly. "All your systems are suppressed, it'll take them a while to wake up."

"And a whole burrito will totally wake them up," Rex said solemnly. "So would a quesadilla and some nachos. And some ice cream."

"Maybe I should just leave you on the drip," she smiled at him, hanging the phone back up.

"Okay, okay, half a plain burrito. Do I at least get visitor privileges?"

"Once I've run more tests." She grabbed a medical torch from her lab coat pocket and clicked it on, then gently held his eye open, shone the light briskly over his pupil, then did the same to his other eye, frowning slightly. "Not very good pupil reaction, Rex."

Then she pinched his arm hard. He blinked. "Hey! A bit of warning please…"

"That would be pointless to warn you," she said wryly. "Your reflexes are slow too. Almost like you're still half asleep."

"A few laps around the Petting Zoo will get you back into shape," Six said almost reassuringly.

"Thanks." Rex wrinkled his nose.

"It'll be okay," Holiday said quietly. "First step is waking up. That's the hard bit. After that it gets easier. You're lucky enough that your nanites have been keeping you alive, they worked to stem the bleeding otherwise…well, you'd be dead right now."

There was a knock on the door, and then a worker entered with a trolley of covered metal trays. "Three meals."

"I only ordered two," Holiday said wearily.

"Knight told me to get one for you too, Doctor."

Six made a small sound that could have been a laugh or he could have just been clearing his throat, as the orderly placed one of the trays on the table by Rex. Rex eagerly flicked off the lid then blinked at the greenery surrounding the half burrito. "What's the deal?"

"Knight requested that you be given the chance to catch up on your greens," the orderly said as blandly as possible.

Rex reached for the bin and Six kicked it away, then rose an eyebrow at him. "He's right, you know. I've seen you sneak your greens down to the petting zoo."

Rex made a face at him and bit into a piece of lettuce. "The things I do for you guys," he said through his mouthful, just to get that look of annoyance on Six's face. It made him grin.

Instead the man looked nearly…well, seriously scarily…just glad to see Rex alive. Wow, Rex thought impressed. I could sneak out of here and I bet he'd forget to punish me for it…midnight runs to taco shack, here I come!

He gulped down the lettuce, shoved another mouthful of the green stuff and a bit of tomato in, then rewarded himself with a bite of taco.

Six and Holiday didn't even seem to remember their own food. They just sat with him. He pushed away the empty plate and grinned. "Best burrito ever, guys. Compliments to the chef."

"Now you can get some rest," Holiday said.

"I've been asleep for ages!" Rex yelped.

"I'll let Noah visit you this evening if you obey the doc on this one," Six was already taking his phone out.

"Deal." They didn't shake hands on it, Six just turned and left the room. Holiday sat back down in the chair, looking amazingly peaceful. "It's so good to have you back, Rex."

"Good to be back," Rex meant it. Then his stomach lurched, he urgently leaned forward and threw up the burrito. He blinked at Holiday, mortally embarrassed, then slumped back into the pillows.

He distantly heard her start to yell, heard an alarm.

**System purged. System restored.**

Cold swept through him, for a moment he couldn't move and then he opened his eyes.

He was lying on the rock floor, in the dark, the light had burned out in its lamp. A sticky puddle of soda vomit lay fresh beside him. A scream burned up his throat and he clamped it back fiercely, stared at it venomously.

How could he have woken up and gone back to sleep again? He'd got drugged in this world and woken up back in his world, the world he needed to be his world, the one where he trusted Six and Holiday implicitly. Now...the tranquilliser that was in the soda, his body must have just thrown it up at the same moment he'd thrown up that damned burrito. I couldn't have just starved myself? he demanded of himself. Maybe if he'd not had that one burrito he'd still be awake...

Then he realised that he was alone in the dark. "Six?" he called out, there was a quiver in his voice and it echoed through the dark cavern. Nothing. he felt the scrunch of paper in his fist as he crawled away from the stain on the floor, and he sat against the wall, unfolding the note and he read it.

_Rex,_

_I have gone to get Sandra back, but this is where our paths have to part. After everything that has happened, I know now that we will put you in more danger. A fresh start for you, a chance for you to change the view of EVOs is vital. You are a force for good, and I have been proud to teach you. I have to hope that other providence bases might see you as the vital asset that you are, will give you the chance to thrive and not to hide._

_Always proud of every moment I've stood beside you,_

_Six._

Then there was another list of other Providence bases.

Bitterness welled up inside Rex, made all the more painful by how just moments ago he'd seen the Six he loved, watching him protectively.

This universe…this Six…he'd desert me because it's got too hard, Rex thought savagely. Fine.

But the hatred died too suddenly. Six had gone to rescue Holiday. No matter what, this universe Six loved Holiday enough to place her above everything else.

He could only be true to himself and as true to the Six and Holiday he knew.

Just avoid the picket fences, he thought wryly.

He walked to the cave entrance, zipped up his jacket and activated his Boogie Pack. The blades spun and he took off, soared high and fast towards the city. He had no idea where Providence base was, but there were soldiers in the city.

All he had to do was find them and get caught.


	10. Chapter 10

Thanks for the reviews: Phantomgirl96, Kristie, Honest (btw, I named Holiday Sandra because someone else guessed her first name might be Sandra and I felt wow, that felt like such a perfect first name for her, so I kinda adopted it too), Peacexfreedom, jessk13, xxSkyexBlue, Kaylee (thanks for going to all the trouble of creating an account, it's a great name :-) ), Emma, Lilly and SqeeFreak! You guys have all been a big help in getting the story written faster.

Also, Kaylee, Lily, Emma, glad to have you guys back on board. I'm not at all negative about your hesitation to continue reading, I'd have been entirely the same I think, it's easy to get scared off a story if it looks like it's going downhill and I must admit, I wasn't the best prepared about introducing Holiday's 'situation' as it was a bit too sudden of an idea which led onto something that I felt would round off the end perfectly. Anyway, on with the story.

* * *

Asleep

Chapter 10

"Six, I will talk to her alone," Knight's voice allowed no argument, his eyes were remorseless and he rested his chin on his clasped hands.

Six's jaw flexed but he bit back the argument as Holiday gave him a regretful look, reaching her hand to touch his arm, but stopped inches from contact. _"I'll be okay,"_ she mouthed at him. Aloud she said, "I'll go straight back to Rex as soon as Knight's finished chewing me out."

Six shot Knight one furious look before he left the conference room. The door slid closed behind him, locking him out. Now Holiday was on her own, and now as Six stood in the corridor, behind his shades, his brown eyes held anguish.

_What is he telling her? Asking her? What is she telling him? Is she telling him she doesn't think Rex will wake up? That he will die soon? Is she giving him a scientific estimate of how long he has left to live?_ The thoughts were frenzied in him, he finally turned and fled the corridor but not to the silence of the infirmary, he couldn't bring himself to. He needed…sanctuary.

In the corner of his own room stood a post of raw wood with polished branches. He went to stand before it; he fought to calm his breathing. That was the first step to stilling the storm inside his heart, before he slid the katanas free from his sleeves, then flipped them open with a practised flick of his wrists.

He concentrated on the post, on the fluidity of his movements as he surged forward, thrust both blades diagonally, slanted the tips to cut the branches perfectly.

Before the wood could even begin to topple, he sliced again, catching the branches with the razor edges and then sliced again as they began to fall. Brief frenzy induced him to slice again, and then again at the falling wood. _Catch the twigs with your blades,_ his teacher had once told him.

The pencil-sized fragments of wood hit the ground with little clicks.

He knew everyone must die. He knew not everyone would die old, that some people died distressingly young. He knew on an educated level that Rex wasn't immune to death just because Six cared. No, he told himself, it wasn't death that upset him right now. What shook him to his core was that he had never thought to say goodbye. _He was awake, I got given a last chance to say goodbye and I never thought about it._

_I watched Holiday battle to save his life all week, ever since that EVO incident._

Really, to Six, Rex's last words, the last words that really stayed with him had been carelessly tossed out during the battle itself.

"I'll take it." I'll take the battle, I'll take the fight, I'll take the beating, I'll take the bloodshed, I'll take the coma, I'll take the death…

"No!" the word tore from Six's throat. The katanas dropped from his hands, to the floor but Six didn't hear the blades ring against the hard surface.

_Please, give me some way to understand this, to come to terms with this, to be okay with this…_

He heard his heart beating in his ears, drowning loud.

He abandoned his katanas and went to the closet, opened it and reached to the shelf above his suits. From there he brought down a wooden box. His heartbeat slowed miraculously, allowed a glimmer of thought, or rather a memory far more bittersweet to him.

Rex's birthday. Well, his own birthday too, not that he'd cared to mention it. The tanto. He lifted his own tanto from the box, and as he held it he remembered the wondrous expression on Rex's face as he'd held his own tanto, his birthday gift from Six.

_This is its twin…_he remembered what he'd told Rex as he ran his finger over the Japanese characters etched lightly into the blade. _The roshido symbol for loyalty. It means, whether for good or for ill, our fates will follow the same path._

For the first time in many days, peace stole over him. He knew where he was meant to be. He put the tanto back into its box and put it back onto the shelf, then left the room, strode back to the infirmary. Whether for good or for ill, our fates will follow the same path.

There was no one in the infirmary but Rex, lying in his bed, the covers tucked in impeccably tight again. Six tugged them slightly looser before he sat down in the chair beside him. He brooded over what to say for a moment, all the while looking at the kid.

The boy in the bed didn't even look like Rex right now; his skin had a quiet, unhealthy tint behind his complexion. Six studied the boy's expression: he'd thought that comatose people always seemed to look peaceful. Instead, Rex looked…empty.

_He's not comatose,_ Six thought. _He's dying._

He'd heard the doctor. He'd read her notes. He knew the nanites were winding down, that the whole body was beginning to rely on machines to keep it going.

"I don't know if you can hear me," Six said finally. "Rex, if you die now I'll be disappointed in you because I have to believe that you will find a way to wake up. You have a lot more to do. I truly believe that."

He settled back, unable to think of anything else for now, but he laid his hand over Rex's hand, as though his touch could give Rex an anchor.

Soon the siren would ring through the base, calling the soldiers out to battle more EVOs. Knight would order Six to go with them, to do what he had always done best. Six would say no. He knew it.

And soon the rules would change. The three options would simplify to the two: kill or contain.

* * *

"Go on then, I'm ready," Holiday didn't sit down. Knight didn't bully her on that insignificant point. His heavy eyes glared. "Doctor, I am not disciplining you. I believe you already berate yourself plenty in this situation."

"Well then, may I go?" Holiday wanted to be back in her lab, or else she wanted to go back to Rex, wanted to know if he was okay.

"No. We need to discuss arrangements."

"What is there to discuss? Rex is sick. I'm wasting time—"

"Will he wake up?"

That stopped her short. Part of her would always want to immediately say, "Of course." But the scientist part of her, the biggest percentage of her, couldn't because right now, the facts were against her. "His stats need to improve," she said finally.

"Enlighten me, doctor. What is his medical status?"

"Comatose and declining," her voice fell to a whisper.

Seemingly satisfied, Knight continued. "What biologically is declining?"

"His brain activity. Heart function is declining slowly. Lung function is close to needing a ventilator."

"So everything is shutting down," Knight concluded.

"He still has a chance," Holiday said softly.

"Doctor." His eyes, the darkest of his pale features, drilled into her from his sterile room, through the screen she stood before. "We have to consider the worst case scenario. Our weapon is continuing to deteriorate. I hereby authorise you to perform an autopsy as soon as brain function reaches rudimentary function—"

_An autopsy...when he's nearly brain dead...? _It took a moment for Knight's meaning to truly sink in.

"Dissect him?" Holiday nearly shrieked it. "You monster!"

"Will you sacrifice the future of the world for the sentiment you keep for one boy?" Knight demanded.

Holiday strode to the screen. Her voice and her eyes were icy. "You are a jackal," she said. "He saved you, yet now when he's in trouble, you'll throw him to the dogs. Have you ever been willing to give him a chance?" Then she turned the screen off, turned on her heel and stormed from the room.

"You didn't answer me, doctor," White Knight said softly inside his room. "Would you sacrifice maybe the only chance of a cure, for the memory of a boy that may never wake up?"

He was silent and still for a moment, sitting at his desk, then his hand moved towards the phone. He dialled out for the operator. "I need the number for a Dr Rudy Fell," he said quietly. He looked at his pale fingers as he waited for the number, then he approved it. Moments later, he listened to the dull ring of a phone line, and then an old, wary and tired voice answered. "Who is this?"

Knight looked at the profile on his computer screen. He'd scrutinised the details on it earlier. "I hear you've struggled to find a new job," Knight said.

"You." The voice was rich with bitterness. "Yes. How do you know?"

"It's my job to know. Would you be interested in an assignment that would earn you…recognition for something potentially revolutionary?"

"Yes." The man's answer was immediate, edged with a rasp.

"Maybe it'll even give you closure," White Knight's voice turned musing. "The boy was your fall from grace after all. So yes…make your way here, doctor. I'll be waiting."

The phone call ended. White Knight closed his eyes, feeling the stain on his soul deepen. Years confined inside this office except for the rare expeditions he could take in that accursedly complicated nanite-free suit had left him far too much time to think, to regret, to consider. He had been a man of action, now he was a man of decisions.

From a soldier he had become a general, without a single desire for such a promotion. He felt removed from the fight, like someone had come and tied his hands behind his back. Back when Van Kleiss had stormed the base, he'd gained the brief satisfaction of kicking the hell out of Biowulf.

He'd only wanted to keep his own life in his own hands, not the lives of the whole world, and now in his head, out of all the lives that he had to think about, Rex stood out the most. They won't be dissecting a monster, but something that looks like a boy.

He needed relief from the grim thoughts. He turned his thoughts back to other duties, began reviewing lists of new graduates from Basic, their skills, abilities and resisted the eventual conclusion that they may just be cannon fodder.

Even Rex may be just cannon fodder now, he thought. No, maybe not even that. Maybe Rex was just a lab rat now.

In a house many miles from Providence, a man packed a bag with only the essentials. His hands shook as he tried to close the bag. His fingernails needed trimming. He cursed them soundly and went out to the hallway and from there to the bathroom. He grabbed a pair of clippers clumsily and his fingers shook as he clipped off the ragged edges of his nails. They hit the sink basin like rain.

He raised his face to the mirror. His mouth was hooked with pain and continual exhaustion. There was a pale tinge under the man's skin. He was sick. Now more pain bit through his stomach. An acidic taste sprung to his tongue, and then a metallic one as he bit his tongue against the pain continuing to gnaw its way through to his back.

_It's meant to be,_ he thought, gritting his teeth painfully. _This…is a sign._

He looked down at his fingers. They'd been clever fingers, delicate and deft. Now though they were getting clubbed. Worse, the fingernails were growing again. He snarled a curse, clipped them again then pulled the medicine cabinet open so fast that it broke off its cheap hinges. He dropped it to the floor, cautioned himself but grabbed the brown medicine bottle of pills. He gulped one of them down, clipped the fingernails as they started to grow again, he shuddered as they finally stopped their vile trickery.

"What will I become?" He hissed to his reflection. _How long before the man in me gives way to the monster?_

He had a chance for answers now. Dissect the boy, get the answers. The cure. He'd seen the boy in action less than a week ago. He'd hidden beside the window as soon as it had got too much, watching the boy beat the EVO on the road outside.

Now he grabbed the bag and ran from the house, slamming the door shut. The careful man in him would have doublechecked that the door was definitely shut, but that was drowned out by the need to be a man again, not a monster. Well, not an EVO.

He got into his car, started it up and backed out onto the road, the suspension jolting over the cracks that were still in the road.


	11. Chapter 11

**In the previous chapter:**

**Rex opened the door and first looked up, saw nothing there, then looked down at an enraged squawk-like sound. A monkey stood there with a pink bow around its neck. "Hoo hoo ha ha ha heeee!" it shrieked, which roughly translated means "I'm pregnant with Bobo's chimp children!"**

"**Bobo?" Rex called tremulously. "It's your um, wife?"**

"**My wife? But she's in South Africa!" Bobo came running then stared at the monkey. "Estella?"**

"**Hoo Heeee!"**

"**This is your wife, Bobo? You said she has big ears!"**

"**Well yeah, she's a rabbit."**

"**You married a rabbit? That is just plain evil!" Rex felt the urge to scream.**

"**It was Vegas!"**

"**Why does Vegas have anything to do with it?"**

"**It was either marry Elvis Presley or a rabbit. Do you have any idea how much I hate Heartbreak Hotel, chief?"**

**The monkey girl started wailing. "Hoo hoo ha ha heee hooo….EEEeeeee!" roughly translated as "I shall feed you to Van Kleiss, you have broken my heart, you never told me you were married…wait!" then it looked at Rex slyly. "Hooooo?" it asked seductively and fluttered its eyelashes.**

"**Bobo!" Rex looked afraid. "Why does it look like it wants to eat me?"**

"**I think she wants you to marry her, something about the circus will disown her if they think she's cheated on Aladdin's monkey…"**

"**Aiiieee!" Rex ran and Bobo slammed the door shut and ran after him. Moments later, the female monkey crashed through after them, leaving a trail of broken plaster, glass and metal behind it…**

**Will Rex have to marry the monkey that's expecting Bobo's chimps? Will Bobo steal a plane fast enough for them to escape her? Or will she marry Van Kleiss?**

_Just kidding. I just felt like writing something entirely different and this was what my mind decided to write._

_Now to see if I can write the rest of this story._

* * *

Thanks to all my reviewers and readers, Kristie, Phantomgirl96, XxSkyexBluexX, Peacexfreedom, Honest, A Spirit, its Danni, Illuminati-4, , Lilly and Emma.

All the reviews are greatly appreciated!

* * *

Fell stood in the briefing room. "I trust you didn't tell them I was here?" he asked White Knight stiffly.

White Knight uttered a short laugh, sitting at his desk in his nanite-free room. "Do I seem like an idiot? Holiday would empty a canister of nanites into my coffee, and Six would empty a zoo full of EVOs into my office."

Fell's lips twitched. "You let them have far too many liberties."

"They guarded the world's only cure. They earned those liberties. Now the cure is next to useless, all I can do is ensure salvage."

Fell nodded and lowered his eyes to the photocopies of Dr Holiday's notes. His lips tightened to a thin line as he read, then finally he looked up at Knight. "When do you want the dissection to take place?"

"What is the lowest yet safest level of brain activity you need to get useful data and not trigger a fatal reaction from the nanites?" Knight answered.

Fell was silent for a moment. "He's only two levels away…studying the decline, I'd estimate an hour."

"Only an hour?" Knight showed the barest sign of surprise.

"Attached to the child?" Fell didn't allow himself to sneer.

"I've watched him grow up," Knight acknowledged. "It is a pity."

"No use wasting the rest of his life. I'll go ready a lab," Fell said. "I trust that the guard you set to accompany me won't let me accidentally cross Holiday or Six's paths? Not unless I really have to."

"Go, do what you have to do," Knight said coldly, and Fell left the room. A guard stood at ease, but straightened up as soon as Fell appeared. "Where to, sir?" the guard asked.

"My old lab," Fell smiled thinly, felt the bite of nostalgia as he followed the guard into the heart of Providence.

_And so the hour began...1.00_

* * *

Rex approached the vandalised phone box, his eyes flicking over anything that might move in the dark. He could only bring himself to take one step inside the phone box, had to stand with one foot outside in order to feel a little less cornered as he grabbed the phone book from the spray painted shelf. A few pages were torn out but he checked the P's. No Providence listed of course, it couldn't be that easy. He went to the emergency services page and there, listed on the same page as police, fire and hospital services, wasProvidence.

_So if you were trapped in a fire, with one arm hanging off and an EVO about to eat the other arm, which service would you call first? The number for fire and hospital, and then hope you had enough time to call the emergency number for Providence?_ Rex kidded himself.

He picked up the phone, and then saw the severed end of the phone wire. Great. Grumpily he began to put the phone down, but then halted, his eyes narrowing. A cautious smile began on his lips then he put the severed ends together and channelled his nanites to connect it. Okay, he'd never fixed a phone before but he'd fixed pretty much anything else mechanical. A dial tone sprung into life and he whooped then dialled the number for Providence.

"Hi, I'd like to report a rampaging EVO," he told the person who answered.

"What kind of EVO?" she asked.

"Me." Then he put the phone down and ran to find a hiding place, activating his boogie pack and flew up the nearest building, dropped down behind its first ledge and hunkered down to wait. As he waited he rehearsed his speech to Callan. He might only have a minute or less to convince the guy not to shoot him after all. He had no idea how homicidal he might or might nor be in this reality. He'd spared Rex last time but that'd been close.

Speech version 1: Callan, Fell has Holiday and will soon have Six.

Speech version 2: Six will kill us both if we don't save Holiday from Fell.

Speech version 3: I'll kill you if you don't help me save Holiday and Six.

Speech version 4: I'll get Van Kleiss to turn you into an EVO unless you help me. Wait, I haven't even seen Van Kleiss around here, how is he anyway?

Okay, he'd probably go with whatever came out of his mouth, it usually turned out fine.

Well, usually Six is there to scrape me off the pavement, Rex thought with a wince, more aware of how alone he was right now. He shook his head at himself. Hey, I ran away successfully enough, didn't I? I survived before and without Providence and Six and Holiday.

He sighed and returned to watching the streets, waiting for one of the Providence trucks. Soon he began fidgeting, counting bricks in the opposite building. "What, do I have to destroy a building?" he demanded of the night sky, exasperated.

_Eh, why not? Something to warm up with..._

He formed boogie pack and dove back down to the ground, formed slam cannon and loaded it with a chunk of pavement. He shot it at one of the neighbouring buildings. The sound shattered the night, but still there was nothing. He growled and went back to the phone box, dialled the number for Providence again. "Hello?" he demanded. "Didn't you get my message? I'm rampaging right now. I'm destroying the city. Send out your guys to try and catch me, anytime soon?"

"You're actually serious?"

"What, is this your first day on the job?" he fumed and put the phone down.

Then the phone began to ring.

He grabbed it up. "Come on! Don't make me trash some more buildings—"

There was a cold laugh on the other end. "You're trying to goad me, Rex?"

It was Fell.

"I'm gonna get you," Rex taunted. "Send your men, bet they can't catch me."

"I know that Callan let you go," Fell said with cruel pleasure.

Rex stiffened. "How?"

"He just tried to free your precious Holiday," Fell said. "Don't worry, he's being tried right now for treason and for sabotage. I'm hoping for a death sentence."

_Argh! How many people am I gonna end up saving by the end of this?_ Rex thought furiously. "Fine," Rex said. "Well, if I find a single bruise on Holiday, guess what? I'll triple the number of bruises on you. See you soon, Fell." He formed his boogie pack and took off back to his lookout post, watching the streets around him intently. It was still dark, no sign of headlights but he listened intently until finally in the distance there was the sound of some kind of machine. It wasn't a truck engine though, he was certain.

Trusting his gut, he looked to the sky as the sound grew, like blades chopping the air, and finally a helicopter hung there in the air. A coil of rope ladder tumbled down, and a man began climbing down it even as the helicopter descended.

It was a hulking figure, a gun strapped across his chest as he climbed down, and his boots made a heavy thunk against the pavement.

Rex strained his eyes to see the dark figure better, something about him seemed eerily familiar, a slight tingle of fear forming inside him at the thought of leaving his vantage point. _Gotta see though,_ he told himself, and finally formed his boogie pack, then charged the figure head-on.

With honed reflexes and uttering a snarl, the man dropped the rest of the distance, pulling the shotgun from its holster and fired at Rex.

Rex yelped and twisted to avoid, then soared out back between the neighbouring buildings, disappearing into the shadows.

_So, the game of cat and mouse begins,_ he thought, his gut twisting now that he recognised the man. It was Hunter Cain. That psychopathic, EVO-murdering, genocidal maniac was working for Providence…

_Figures,_ Rex thought darkly. Worse though was that the man's gun was definitely gonna be loaded up with poison especially for EVOs.

* * *

30 minutes left

The guard escorted Fell to his old lab, gave a stiff salute then hurried away as Fell entered the room. He felt a wave of nostalgia as he swept his eyes over everything in the room. It remained almost as he'd left it, apart from a thin layer of dust over some of the surfaces, but another of the scientists was already there, wiping everything down with a damp cloth. She stopped what she was doing and hurried to greet him. "White Knight assigned me to assist you as necessary," she said.

"Good." He smiled thinly, and took a small stroll, looking over his old tools, arranged neatly on trays. The computers were slow to turn on, the keyboards still needed dusting. The dissection table stood in the centre of the lab, gleaming softly. As the computer whirred softly, ready, Fell consulted the programs and found an essential one missing.

"I've heard the doctor has a program to monitor the boy's nanites," Fell spoke to the assistant scientist.

_0.29_

"Yes sir," she replied. She was slightly gawky an assistant for Fell's liking but at least she was mousy enough to never argue, hiding her eyes behind glasses and her hair cut boyishly short to keep it out of the way, keeping her hands behind her back as she spoke, to hide how she twisted her fingers, self-conscious of her nails.

"I'll need a portable nanite monitor," Fell ordered, "And a copy of that nanite program for my own computer."

"What if Agent Six or Doctor Holiday catch me, sir?" she asked softly.

"They will be busy, sitting by the bedside of a dying EVO," Fell said coldly. "Now go."

"Y-yes sir," the young scientist left quickly.

_0.28_

Holiday dozed lightly, resting her head on the edge of Rex's bed. Six solemnly admired how peaceful she looked, how different to when she was awake. For the last hour she had been nearly frenetic, checking every monitor again and again.

_She's sometimes so protective to the point of passionate,_ Six observed this peaceful form of Holiday. _She holds life sacred, so sacred that she'd fight to the death to prevent the death of those she loves, even when they're ignorant to her only other passion, Science._ He remembered her fury when it'd come to the swarm of metal eating insects in China. She'd pretended to hold duty to investigate the bugs over Rex's safety, using her beloved statistics and probability, but when it'd come to it she'd been the one jumping into the pilot's seat to go and pull him from the river.

_0.27_

He got up, casting a small glance at the clock. It was five o'clock in the morning. On any other morning he'd have been getting up anyway to start his warm up exercises. It was time to wake up. He stretched gently, getting up from the chair and saw the notebook on the floor. He picked it up, reading Holiday's handwriting, it was cramped with how rushed she'd written it, a few formulae around the edge but mostly notations. He set the notebook down on the edge of Rex's bed, by the chair.

He touched Holiday's slender shoulder lightly and she raised her head from the bed, blinked drowsily at him. Then she looked to Rex who remained still and unconscious, hooked up to machines. "Hmm?"

"I'm getting something to drink. For both of us." He brooked no argument. "Stay with Rex."

_0.26_

She nodded, stifled a yawn and moved to Six's chair. Unspoken agreement between them had given the chair the status of 'uncomfortable enough to keep a lookout awake'. She rubbed her eyes drowsily then picked up the notebook from where Six had placed it.

"What is it you're working on anyway?" Six gave into his compulsion to ask.

"I'm trying to formulate a compound that could give Rex's system a jolt without failing his systems," she answered. Her eyes were focused, and her lips quivered. "I actually think I might have a chance. I just have to make sure it focuses entirely on the nanites and away from the neurons and tissue."

_0.25_

"Good luck then," Six nodded and left the room. He'd have gone to the nearest coffee machine, but he didn't care for coffee, he had a preferred drink, much as it'd make Rex laugh if he ever found out. Either that or make him scream "You like green way too much!" Green tea. Unfortunately it wasn't something that any of the coffee machines stocked, so he had to walk to the cafeteria to get it, he walked fast though, cutting through the science labs passages.

Ahead of him he saw someone in a lab coat duck intoHoliday's room. He frowned. No one was allowed to go into her labs when she wasn't around.

_0.24_

Inside, a young woman was at Holiday's desk, inserting a memory stick.

"What are you doing?" Six asked coolly.

"I'm sorry about Rex," she answered softly, her eyes lowered. "I kind of wanted to see if I could help. A second pair of eyes, well," she touched her glasses embarrassedly. "A pair of bug eyes I guess. I wanted to use the program to run a simulation of the effect on his systems if he was injected with a compound to...well, wake him up, I guess."

_0.23_

It kind of worked.

"You'll need Doctor Holiday's permission," Six said. "Under no circumstances are you to inject Rex with anything unless it has her abject permission." Then he took the memory stick out from Holiday's computer and handed it back to the girl. He'd made it clear enough.

The girl turned and left the room. "Sorry sir," she said shyly then hurried away. "Hope Rex is okay."

_0.22_

"He knows about swords. He doesn't know about computers." The girl inserted the memory stick into the computer. "I've put a link through to Holiday's computer so that you can remotely access the program."

Fell smiled, and arranged the last sterilised scalpel. He had the choice of molecular dissection but he somewhat wanted this dissection to be more personalised. Then he checked his watch. Soon he'd need to redo his own meds. "Stay here, I'll be back in a moment," he ordered then hurried out, to go to the cafeteria for fruit juice. Coffee would counteract the meds.

_0.21_

"One green tea, one french roast with honey, no cream," Six requested. The cafeteria worker nodded and hurried to do that. The cafeteria was almost empty at this time of morning, he guessed the soldiers were still out at an EVO incident. He was almost jealous of them, thinking wistfully of a good fight. He wasn't bloodthirsty, no, but he did derive pleasure from the fight, or more precisely from the work that went into it. He took the steaming cups from the counter, and turned to walk out, just as a man entered. He didn't wear a lab coat, but his eyes flared as soon as he saw Six and with that, Six remembered him. He immediately put the cups down and strode after him but Fell turned and nearly ran from the room.

Six pressed his earpiece as he walked. "Holiday," he ordered. "Stay with Rex. Do not leave his side, whatever happens."

His mind had no doubts. Fell was here at Knight's told him of the conversation that had transpired between them, of the order to dissect Rex. He broke into a run past the cafeteria doors, he barely saw Fell disappear around a far corner and he pursued. Fell was heading towards the science labs passages. Six immediately knew that Fell must be in his old labs.

_0.20_

Ahead a door began to slide shut and Six knew that Fell would activate the siege mechanism. He felt an actual growl in his throat as he sped up, leapt through the narrow opening and landed on one knee, katanas already drawn and ready.

Then the door finished sliding shut. As Six had guessed, the siege mechanism had been engaged.

The room though was empty.

"Holiday," he pressed the button on his earpiece as he began trying to open the door.

"Six? What's happening?" she sounded worried.

"Fell is here. Do not leave Rex, I'll be with you ASAP."

"Under…understood," she whispered and their conversation ended.

"That's Agent Six out of the way," Fell sighed from his lab. "Now for Holiday."

_0.19_


	12. Chapter 12

I haven't forgotten the story, promise. This chapter just took ages to sort out! The next chapter should hopefully be ready VERY soon, especially with the weekend ahead to give me the time needed. I'm also having to fight the urge to start work on the next story I have planned, as that has to wait until Don't Look Back's finished. For now the 3rd GenRex story has a planning title of Past Saving, and has been great to plan out.

Thanks for the reviews: Peacexfreedom, Phantomgirl96, Honest, Lilly, xangabell, xxXDanniXxx, and Emma.

**Asleep**

**Chapter 12**

Rex knelt at the edge of the flat roof of one of the taller buildings, watching the scene below intently: a Providence truck, scruffy and dented, was parked at an angle in the road and twelve soldiers ranged around it restlessly, rendered anonymous by their uniforms. Hunter Cain, the EVO hating hunter and apparently working for Fell in this reality, snarled orders at them. "Fan out. Find the EVO scum. You can shoot it in the arms or legs or else in non-vital spots. Fell still wants it alive to cut into pieces. You and you, with me."

Obediently the soldiers spread out to search, testing all the doors of nearby buildings to eliminate them as hiding places, kicking over the larger trash cans and shining torches inside them.

As if I'd hide inside a trash can? Rex thought insulted and turned his attention back to the truck. He couldn't see enough of its dark interior from here so he activated Boogie Pack and dropped down, not caring about being seen—though he did care about being shot.

He tackled Hunter straight off, kicking him in the chest and grabbing the barrel of his rifle, jerking it up, the muscles in his arms straining. Hunter's breath stank of beer and meat as he panted heavily, pushing back against Rex, slowly forcing the rifle back down, Rex gave one last burst of energy to shove the rifle against the truck wall, giving him time for one glance inside it then he de-activated the Boogie Pack and activated his Ride, speeding away from the soldiers.

"Get him!" Hunter roared. Two of the soldiers grabbed what seemed to be motorcycles from the back of the truck, and within moments were pursuing Rex down the roads, rounding the corners and catching up way too quickly.

Rex drove straight through one of the chain link fences that divided an alleyway from the street, de-activated the Ride as he leapt, landed heavily, activating Smackhands on his left arm only, and clawed the manhole cover up along with a chunk of surrounding concrete and jumped down into the sewer, landing with a splash.

"Down there, sir!" one of the soldiers shouted, pointing his blaster down the hole.

Hunter's face loomed in the hole, staring down at the tunnel just as Rex disappeared around a corner.

"Don't come back until you have him," Hunter snapped, and six of the soldiers hurried to start climbing down the ladder, and splashed after Rex.

Rex wasted no time, running, following the tunnel to the next junction of four tunnels, took the East tunnel, followed it for seven metres to another junction of three tunnels and took the South tunnel, following it until he found a rusted ladder affixed to the wall. He grabbed the rungs and climbed, pushed at the manhole cover. First it didn't budge. He activated Smackhands and pushed the manhole cover up as quietly as he could.

This road, Edgar Road was pretty much around the corner from the truck. He jammed the manhole cover back into place and cast his eyes over the locked up shops. There was the burger joint where he sometimes snuck out to play arcade games and have a decent cheeseburger.

His stomach rumbled miserably. His nanites were probably starving too. "Sorry guys," he told them sadly. "I don't have time to break in, fire up the grill and do a burger and fries." He decided he'd better limit what he did nanite-wise before he fell down exhausted. He'd been lucky to get away with this many builds in one night since the time he drank ten bottles of mountain dew on a bet from Bobo…

Wait a second…maybe there was something worth breaking into a burger shop for…he ran to it, activated one Smackhand and forced the metal shutters up, then kicked open the door and ran to the drinks fridge. He grabbed an armful of fizzy drinks, cracked open the first and drank. Energy immediately flooded his limbs, so fast that he was nearly dizzy. It wasn't as good as having something to eat but it was pretty close.

He trotted back to the street where the truck was parked at a crazy angle on the road. Hunter Cain wasn't in sight, that was good. There were three soldiers though standing guard by the truck. Rex crept closer, staying in the shadows, until he could see more of the truck. There was the satnav affixed to the truck dashboard. That'll have the location of Providence Base in it, Rex knew.

_Now to get rid of the guards and nick the truck_, he told himself with a small smile.

He watched them for a little while, in their uniforms there was nothing distinguishing about any of them so he labelled them #1, #2 and #3. #1 kept his walkie-talkie in the truck, what a moron. #2 held his in his hand all the while, and kept looking around. A bit jittery, eh? And #3 had his walkie-talkie clipped to his belt.

"Nothing to report, sir," #1 said, sitting at the wheel.

Rex activated his BFS and charged #3, slashed the walkie-talkie from his belt and with a skilled flick sent it smashing into the side of the truck, then whirled and punched #2, grabbed the walkie-talkie from his hand and threw it down on the ground and stamped on it. Then he ran at #1 who was hurriedly shoving the key into the truck ignition.

"Hey, thanks for that," Rex exclaimed, climbing in the passenger seat then kneeling on one knee, used his other leg to kick him out of the other side. The soldier rolled as he hit the ground.

Rex scrambled into the drivers seat, the fallen walkie-talkie crackling. "Johnson, what's going on?" a crackly Hunter Cain demanded from it.

Rex picked it up. "You just lost your truck," he said, then threw the walkie-talkie out of the truck. He jammed his foot down on the accelerator and drove, his hand on the steering wheel, his other hand on the sat-nav. He pulled up the last recent directions, found the most common one and selected it.

Above from the sky, mechanical blades chopped: a helicopter. The shadow soon cast itself over the truck as Rex sped out of the city, down increasingly bumpy roads. The map beeped as it came up, and Rex drove faster. _Hold on, Six, Holiday,_ he thought, a grin growing on his face as he steered the truck out of the city, over increasingly rough and parched terrain under a velvet night sky.

Above, the helicopter pulled forward to hang over the truck, Hunter Cain stood in its doorway, one hand hanging onto the frame, the gun in his free hand. He screamed something abusive at Rex but the helicopter thankfully drowned out his voice. Headlights splashed over the truck from behind, a pair of motorcycles had joined the chase, Providence soldiers on them.

"Open fire!" Hunter screamed, and the truck began to shake with the force of bullets and blaster fire.

"Oh fine," Rex grumbled. "Sheesh, just because I don't have a driving license…" he yanked the satnav free, and powered it with his nanites, opened the driver door and kicked it out, then dove out, activated boogie pack and flew up in a slanted direction as the soldiers continued shooting the truck. The truck slowed to a halt but it was still a while before they stopped shooting. Rex's ears were numb long before, but he continued on his way, following the satnav in his hand.

It was a pity, he'd really wanted to drive the truck through one of Providence's buildings the way it was done in the movies. Oh well. He flew faster than the truck drove anyway.

Ahead finally a lone building rose into view, surrounded by a sea of vehicles and a line of barbed wire fence. He flew over it and landed gently on the ground amongst the parked trucks.

He strode towards the building, to the nearest door. He pressed his hand to the retina scanner and put his nanites to work on it. "Honey, I'm home," Rex called mockingly as the door opened. He stepped inside and the door snapped shut behind him.

Immediately a guard rounded a corner and began firing. A speaker above crackled to life. "Rex, I've been expecting you." It was Fell of course.

"That's cool, I've been expecting you all too," Rex replied and gave the nearest security camera a careless salute. Then he activated smackhands and tore the camera from the wall.

The guard tossed a canister of smoke gas into the corridor, it rolled to a halt by Rex's feet and began spewing out smoke that quickly filled the air until he couldn't see.

Rex quickly activated his boogie pack, the corridor so small that his wings were painfully pressed against each wall, but he just needed the turbine engines to whip away the smoke.

"I don't have time for this," Rex told the guard and activated his Ride, took off down the corridor. He punched the guard out cold as he sped past. This Providence was a bit less tech-y than the Providence he'd grown up in. There were metal doors, not sliding doors, and they had locks, not retinal or fingerprint scanners.

The floors were also less white…actually they were just that cheap kind of granite, like the janitor's basement at school. He caught glimpses of pretty sparse labs. Wow, Holiday worked in these kinds of labs before I came along? Just wow.

He followed the corridor towards where he knew Holiday's lab would have been, and particularly the Petting Zoo. He knew from what Six had once told him, that that was where they'd used to keep the captured EVOs in cages, and the molecular dissection chamber. A shiver went up his spine as he approached the pair of doors. He deactivated the Ride in front of it, reached and pushed the doors open.

The room that would have one day been the Petting Zoo was full of cages, and in those cages EVOs paced restlessly, gnawed at the bars or slept, twitching as they dreamed of freedom.

In one cage though, it wasn't an EVO. Holiday lay unconscious in it.

"Holiday!" Rex ran to her and activated smackhands to try and break the lock. It refused to break, he deactivated smackhands and activated BFS, slashed at the lock, but the sword blade bounced off it, nearly smacking him in the face.

Then the door slammed shut. Rex jumped and spun around, then ran at the door, tried jamming the sword tip into the door to pry it open: no joy.

The speaker crackled as Fell laughed. "Have fun, Rex."

A siren began to blare, red light washing over the walls and all the cage doors swung open. "Ah," Rex murmured.

The EVOs emerged from their cages, their eyes fixed on him hungrily. He remembered the first EVO to charge him looked like a cross between a scorpion and a tiger. He remembered throwing it with smackhands, then what looked like a cross between a rhino and a chameleon charging him from behind, then another EVO that felt like a gorilla, wrapping its arms around him and squeezing until smackhands collapsed in pieces. Then it threw him, he rolled across the ground.

A more familiar figure stumbled free from one of the cages and ran to Rex, knelt by him and touched his face anxiously. "Rex?" Holiday's face was contorted in horror. "Oh god Rex, you shouldn't have come here! Where's Six?"

"He should be here by now," Rex mumbled as her face swam into focus before him.

The EVO that looked like a cross between a rhinoceros and a chameleon bellowed and charged them.

"Rex!" Holiday screamed.

The roof exploded and a lone figure dropped down between them and the EVO, landing with finite grace, katanas extended, he slashed, his face contorted in fury, leapt onto the EVO's huge muzzle and blinded it with the tip of one katana, and let loose a powerful kick, sending it veering into another wall where it stumbled and lay, disoriented. Another EVO squealed in rage at the sight of its downed fellow mutant, and leapt at Six, and another was charging him too, and another… Six was already cornered…

"Please, no," Rex found himself whispering. In his world, he had a chance of curing these EVOs. He had the choice to. Six would never have had to be so savage. Holiday would never be in this kind of danger…he leaned against the wall, his right leg hurting and shaking. He waited then he lunged forward, stretched out his arm and grabbed the nearest EVO, felt his nanites kick in with frightening speed, it'd never taken so much energy from him…he gritted his teeth, willing himself to hold on as the EVO shrank to a confused dog that yipped in terror, turned and ran for the closed doors.

Rex stumbled to grab another EVO.

_Inside him the nanites buzzed, struggling…_

Another downed EVO…

His vision began blurring.

Six dispatched two more EVOs, more surged forward to take their place. He grabbed Holiday's arm and pointed at the abandoned cages. "Hide," he snapped.

She gave him a small look of refusal. "I'm not going to die hiding," she whispered, and slid her hand over his palm.

He placed one katana into her grip, closing her fingers over its hilt. "Survive for us," he said.

On the sixth cured EVO, Rex hit the floor out cold. Six and Holiday moved in to protect him together, fending off the EVOs as best they could. There were still at least thirty EVOs left…

**Back in the real world**

0.17 minutes left

Rex opened his eyes, his heart beating heavily in his chest. He was lying in a bed, a hospital bed. His confused eyes swept over the infirmary walls. Holiday was by the door, her back to him. Her hand rested on the door controls, particularly the button that would seal the room, the siege mechanism.

_We're in trouble here too_, he realised. _I must be…unconscious in the other place_. He was partly glad to be in his own world, the one where Providence actually let him cure EVOs, and didn't pit him against them or try to dissect him…

0.16

Finally Holiday pressed the button and the room light shut off, an emergency light, a soft, eerie red glow, shone down the wall over Rex's head.

"Hurry Six," Holiday whispered, turning to go sit back down, then froze as she saw Rex's eyes were open. "Rex?"

0.15

"I'll wake up soon," he said urgently. "I promise. I've just got to save you and Six." Then he closed his eyes and slumped back.

Holiday stared at him for a moment. He was back in that accursed coma, but he'd promised, he'd promised! He'd wake up soon… she pressed her earpiece. "Six?" she said shakily. "Any progress?"

0.14

"I'll let you know," Six's brusque voice was a comfort though the moment after, knowing that that was all the conversation she was allowed to have from him, was maddening.

Alone in the siege-locked room, Holiday took out her laptop from under Rex's bed and booted it up. She kept programs in it that would drive White Knight berserk if he found out, programs to hack into all the security cameras, programs to bypass any filters on websites and much more. She began checking Rex's nanites, using a remote link from the laptop to her main computer.

0.13

Remotely accessing her own computer, she immediately found the crude link from her own programs to what she knew must be Fell's computer. "Oh you want to play that game, do you?" she whispered, her eyes narrowing.

She rapidly set a string of commands into the link, drew up a few files from her own archives and changed her program to monitor Rex's nanites. "Enjoy," she said softly, a cold and wicked glint in her eyes.

0.12

She resumed work on bringing up all security camera feeds in the corridors around the room, just in time to see Fell striding down the corridor towards this room, flanked by a few guards. He stopped before the door and pressed the button to open it, but the siege status she'd enabled kept it locked.

0.11

She saw his face scowl on the security camera, then he stepped back and the soldiers began working on disabling the siege lock, taking out a blowtorch. The noise drowned the silence, the hiss of the blue flame against the doorframe. Siege status wouldn't mean a thing against that…

She was trapped though. She couldn't leave Rex, and she couldn't take him off the machines. She needed him to wake up soon. She needed Six to make the soldiers think twice about entering the room. "Okay, stop thinking about what you need everyone else to do," she scolded herself and went to the medical cabinet.

0.10

Emergency supplies were in there. Luckily no one had thought to revoke her security status over things as small as lab cabinets, so the door clicked open on it. She rifled through the medicines in it, stopping as she found a case of adrenaline. She took it out. It wasn't the best idea, it was risky. If Rex's heartbeat was unstable, adrenaline would make it even more so. However, if it came to it, she would use it.

0.09

She drew a steadying breath and sat back down in her chair, picked her laptop again. She flipped through more cameras throughout the base and stopped on the one that showed Six standing in one of the labs.

0.08

"Hurry," she whispered again though he couldn't hear her as he stood, facing the siege-locked door that Fell had activated to keep him from escaping.

0.07

Six had level 1 clearance across the whole base; even Captain Callan couldn't beat that. He lifted his sunglasses slightly for the retina scanner, and his eyebrow raised when the words access denied flashed up on the screen in red. He turned and strode to the security camera.

0.06

"Knight," he shouted. "I know you can see this, I know you've revoked my clearance. Why? Are you so hellbent on ensuring Rex's death that you can't see that we need him alive? Fell is mad! You are mad if you assist him!"

0.05

Silence. Not that he'd expected anything. At least it was said though.

"Oh yes," Six's voice dropped to conversational standards. "You do remember how I promised never to use my katanas as a tuning fork inside Providence ever again? I lied."

He clanged his swords together, his brow knitting as he focused the magnetic energy at the metal door, then as it reached its peak, he yanked and half the door ripped out, along with a third of the wall.

0.04

He resisted the urge to turn and put his middle finger up at the security camera as he stepped over the rubble and twisted metal. He pressed his earpiece instead. "Holiday?" he demanded. "I'm on my way."

0.03

"Six, glad to hear it," the relief in her voice was tangible. "They're trying to break down the door though…" her voice rose a pitch and in the distance he heard a heavy crash.

0.02

He ran, his katanas folded up and back up his sleeves: he wasn't willing to use deadly force yet, and launched a high kick at the first soldier, then punched the next, and another, hooked his foot around another's knee and yanked, whipping them into a wall, thrust a palm into one soldier's chest with enough force to break a rib or two…

0.01

Fell advanced on Holiday. "It had to come to this," he said sadly. She stood up, her laptop hidden under the bed. "I'm not letting you kill Rex," she informed him, her eyes narrow with anger.

"My dear, he is already past saving," he said, attempting to be gentle. He pointed at the monitor of Rex's heartbeat. It was slowing down.

Fell's assistant lunged at Holiday, a needle of sedative in her hand. Holiday caught the movement and twisted, caught the young woman's arm and pushed her against the wall as Fell reached forward and switched off the life support.


	13. Chapter 13

Thanks for the reviews: Niobe's Pen, Anonymous, Lilly, Emma, DevissiTRHW, SqeeFreak, Phantomgirl96 and Peacexfreedom.

Okay, the next chapter I'm just finishing up the editing and will be posting it up within the next 3 hours, and then it's just the epilogue left.

* * *

Chapter 13

Five seconds ago Fell had turned off the life support monitor. Now feeling like she couldn't move fast enough, Holiday shoved him away and Six grabbed him, threw him against the wall.

"You, get out," Holiday snapped at Fell's assistant, her eyes alight with rage. The girl stared at her then scrambled to her feet and fled through the open door.

"Six, open this." Holiday tossed him a small plastic case. Then she turned back to the life support machine and tried to turn it back on.

"System failure," a voice said softly from beside her. It was a voice entirely void of emotion but unmistakably Rex's. She looked down at Rex, in time to see his lips move. "Reformat initiated—"

"Six!" She grabbed the case from him and broke it open in her rush, took the injection needle out from it and thrust it into Rex's chest, right over his heart. "Come on!" she started CPR.

The heart monitor kept up its whine until Six felt like he could slice it into pieces.

"Come on!" Holiday yelled, pressing her hands over Rex's heart and pushed. "Come on!" a dry sob entered her voice.

Six cast his eyes around the room desperately for anything that could help, saw the crash trolley in the corner, ran and grabbed it, pushed it over to Holiday.

"I can't!" she yelled at him. "His nanites won't allow that kind of resuscitation."

"Screw the nanites, save Rex," Six snapped.

"Then take off anything metal and put it well away," she growled, grabbing the crash equipment, put the gel onto Rex's chest, charged up the defibrillators and barely gave Six time to throw his katanas into the corner.

There was a flash within the room, Six couldn't see for a moment. Then pretty much every machine in the room was smoking and broken and somewhere in Providence an alarm was blaring.

Holiday threw the ruined equipment down onto the floor and continued CPR. "Take his pulse," she ordered Six.

He grabbed Rex's wrist, pressed his index and middle fingers to the skin and listened, waited, the most intense seconds of his life, trying not to let anything distract him.

There.

A throb. Another throb. Light as a butterfly's wings but it was there.

He actually sank to his knees. "He's got a pulse."

Holiday threw her arms around Six and hugged him tightly and started laughing, giddy, but pale with shock. Then a moment later her cheeks coloured and she stepped back, busied herself with pushing back a stray strand of her hair from her eyes and then pushing the broken machines away from Rex. "It's going to have to be up to him now," she commented, her voice barely steady. "Knight barely allowed me this equipment as it was."

"Does it matter what he allows right now?" Six's voice was neutral edged with cold.

"For now, Rex doesn't need it anyway. He's breathing on his own." A smile twitched at her lips and she looked at him, "He's actually doing better. He has a real chance."

From behind them, Fell laughed hollowly and got up, leaning heavily against the wall. "You fools. You sentimental fools."

Holiday turned, startled and guilty at herself for forgetting about him. "Haven't you done enough damage?" she said coldly.

"No." he pulled at the neck of his shirt like it was tightening. "I really haven't." he squeezed his eyes in pain. "Kill me, Agent Six. Kill me before I kill one of you."

"Don't you get it?" Holiday said angrily, rounding on him. "You're done, Fell."

"Oh I know I'm done, Doctor Holiday. I'm done as a human being." He fixed his eyes on her. "That is why you should kill me right now." Then his eyes, that pale colour, darkened, and the pupils began to bleed outwards, the irises bled out into the whites until his eyes were solid crimson. He fell forward onto all fours, his body crunching painfully.

"Kill me!" he screamed, his voice rising inhumanly into a screech that hurt the ears.

"Holiday, get Rex," Six snapped.

"But the equipment!" Holiday said.

"You said it, he can cope without it. He cannot cope with more internal injuries from Fell." Six ran to his thrown-down katanas and scooped them up, then stood before Fell, waiting tersely. "Go!"

Holiday pressed the communicator in her ear. "Knight, I need one of your soldiers here right now. Quit trying to kill Rex."

"Dr Holiday," Knight sounded only casually annoyed through the communicator. "Is Fell that incompetent?"

"Fell is turning EVO," Holiday replied coldly. "Now send us some freaking backup right now!"

"I'm afraid that won't be possible…Six incapacitated the majority of them with his stunt and sent plenty of the others to the secondary infirmary. You are on your own." Holiday groaned in desperation at that and fought the urge to hurl the communicator against the wall.

Fell's hands clenched and contorted, stretched and crunched. The head bowed, then crunched further forward, the jaw bulged, fangs curling up and out. The crimson eyes stretched out across the skull. The nose flattened into slits. The clothes tore as metallic spikes bulged out of his back like fur. It bulked out, its body lengthening until it towered over Six, its spikes scraping the ceiling.

All too soon it was done, the human Fell was gone.

EVO Fell gulped in its first wet gulp of air, and then looked down at Six. It growled, trying to stretch more, then bucked, tearing out a chunk of the ceiling, giving itself more space.

"Go," Six said softly to Holiday and bared his katanas, then charged the EVO. He'd already analysed the look of EVO Fell: it had metallic armour and worse, it was almost seamless. He remembered the last time he'd dealt with a metallic EVO, it'd had chinks for him to drive his katanas in, accidentally triggering something like an overload. The only good thing about this one was that it wasn't as huge….his katana blades rang off it, bouncing back and he had to be careful to keep from impaling himself on his own blades.

Holiday freed Rex from the covers and the wires. Carrying him by herself though? She may have been strong but not in the way that would permit her to carry a sixteen year old boy.

"Here," a girl whispered, edging into the room nervously. She grabbed Rex's feet. It was Fell's assistant. She hadn't run far enough. Holiday gratefully grabbed Rex under the shoulders and together they carried him from the room, leaving behind the sound of the clang of Six's katanas against the EVO's spikes.

"Why did you help me?" Holiday had to ask as they carried Rex towards the labs.

"Knight told me to," the girl said immediately.

"And let me guess, he told you to help Fell do a live dissection," Holiday said coolly.

"No. He told me to help do a dissection. We dissected EVOs in training."

They had to put him down so that Holiday could press the button to open the door. Nothing happened though. Holiday regarded it tiredly then grabbed the edges and pushed with a last burst of energy. "They didn't train you in ethics though, I guess," Holiday said, drawing a deep breath in order to keep going.

"No. They didn't."

"Get Providence to fund you in a degree on it then. If they say no, tell them you're gone."

"I'm only a trainee. Easily replaced."

"That's what we all start off as." Holiday fixed the girl with a glare. "First you think you'll have to do whatever you have to, to get to where you can make a difference. But you can't be good unless you believe in what you're doing. If you think Rex is purely EVO and not human, your beliefs are wrong. He is sometimes more human than the rest of us. Would you dissect a human?" She didn't wait for an answer, she just picked Rex up by his shoulders again and waited for the girl to pick up his feet. "And anyway," Holiday added. "They may have tonnes of trainees, but they don't have tonnes of geniuses."

The girl smiled faintly at that and they carried Rex into Holiday's lab, Holiday led the way over to the scanner.

"I'm gonna run another scan while we've still got some electricity left," Holiday said.

"What happened to the electricity?" the girl asked.

"Six. Probably when he escaped from Fell's trap. You saw how the door wouldn't open. We're down to emergency power by now. Luckily, the scanner is on the emergency grid as well as the main grid. And here's betting there's going to be more damage."

"From Fell?"

Holiday smiled coldly. "No. Have you ever heard how often Rex is told off for destroying cities while sorting out EVOs?"

"Yes. I've heard."

"He learned it from Six."

* * *

Rex opened his eyes: high above him was a corrugated metal ceiling. All around him were EVOs, and he saw out of the corner of his eye Holiday and Six fighting back-to-back, fending off the EVOs. He could see that their strength was flagging. As he watched, one of the EVOs got past Holiday's defences and slashed its claw down her arm, he saw her cry out, the blood sketching a thin line down her arm. He saw...

EVO. About to land on him.

Like a dream, Rex raised his palm, outstretching his fingers to meet the falling EVO, his nanites racing. Pain shot up his arm but the EVO was shrinking, then it was a raccoon bouncing off him.

Despite the overwhelmingly helplessness of the situation with at least twenty five EVOs left to disable, Six still snuck a proud look at him but then they were back in action. Holiday batted off an EVO's claw clumsily with the katana, clearly favouring her injured arm, then leapt and delivered a high kick to its shelled abdomen, knocking it back. Then as though sensing that Rex was awake, Holiday turned and gave him a small smile, the kind of smile that spoke volumes: _we're going to die but damn, this was worth every second!_

He smiled back at that and got up again, rejoining them in battle. His heart sang with adrenaline and terror but it was okay, if he was going down, he was going down with the two people in the world that meant…well, the world, to him. Six stood slightly in front of Holiday, shielding her and Rex stepped up beside him. "So," he said. Six nodded. "Yes."

Yep, that was their way of saying it: it was good knowing you.

Activating smackhands, Rex grabbed the nearest EVO and threw it bowling-style into the rest of the EVOs. It landed on its side, skidding, its claws gouging the concrete floor. EVOs leapt over it, seeing Rex as the worst threat and Six delivered a powerful slash of his katana. Holiday dodged a spiky EVO tail and then spun to sever it with the katana Six had given her. The EVO screamed, thrashing its tail stump. Rex rushed to Holiday's aid, leaping onto the EVO's back and pressing his hand against its skin, he whipped out the corrupted nanites. It thrashed as it shrank, throwing Rex into Holiday and his hand barely brushed her stomach. For a moment his nanites buzzed in magnetic reaction.

"Whoa," Rex whispered despite the battle. He saw Holiday in a new light.

She pulled him to his feet and he resisted the reaction to wipe his hand against his jacket to get rid of the static.

He looked at her though, his eyes narrowing, then he smiled faintly. He felt awash with understanding; he wasn't afraid.

He got up, slightly unsteady on his feet. _Please, I need just a bit more from you,_ he asked his nanites and it was like they understood as a new burst of adrenaline temporarily wiped out his exhaustion. He was the powerhouse now. He activated smackhands and ran forward, he didn't attack the EVOs, he grabbed Six and Holiday and tossed them into the cage behind him, kicked the door shut to keep the EVOs off them.

"Rex!" Holiday shouted. "Are you insane?"

He gave her a look that was eerily mature. "I don't belong in this world," he said softly. "I want my world back." Then he turned and ran at the EVOs. He waded into them, barely felt each blow. His body moved against it all, his nanites made the builds and dropped them as needed. An EVO charged; he barely felt his body activate smackhands and send it flying. He activated his boogie pack and took off through the lines of EVOs, maybe it was rage, maybe it was urgency, most probably both, but he couldn't feel any pain, the EVOs bounced out of his path like he was a bowling ball and they were the skittles. The doors loomed ahead.

"Rex!" Six yelled, appalled. A small smile grew on Rex's lips. Either he would go through the door or he would die…fifty-fifty chance.

It hurt. This time he couldn't ignore the pain as he crashed through the solid concrete and felt the bite of steel. He landed in a heap in the corridor, his wings mangled and he shook them off and walked, his shoulders aching worst and a banging like a drum inside his head. Soldiers opened fire. He used smackhands and the bullets bounced off his metal. He grabbed one of the soldiers as the others fled.

"Where is Fell?" Rex growled.

The soldier took three attempts; Rex shook him like a rat on the second try until the soldier finally babbled, pointed and Rex dropped him, out of patience. He stormed up the corridor, up a flight of stairs, through another hallway and took the end door into a room that was like an observatory.

A bank of windows looked out over the area that Rex still knew as the Zoo, that he'd just escaped from, he could distantly see Holiday and Six still safe in the cage he'd locked them into, to keep the EVOs off them.

A dissection table stood in the centre of the room. Rex felt a shudder of revulsion move through him, a tiny spark of memory, made distant by the way he'd been drugged back then by Fell himself. Six had saved him back then.

_This time I'm on my own._

"Where are you, Fell?" Rex asked softly, but went to the bank of computers.

There were graphs across a few of the screens, their levels fluctuating as he watched, but on one screen there was a report with his details on it: _Subject has been confirmed as having suffered black-out. Through nanites? Requires tests._

He wandered away from that, tracing his fingers over the banks of equipment, letting the buzz of computer signals pass through his head. There was a door, it'd been used a moment ago. It wasn't like the other doors, it had a security lock. He pressed his hand to it and the door slid open to reveal a room with a cage in the centre, surrounded by machinery. He advanced on that cage, staring at the EVO within.

It was the EVO he'd fought on the day of the accident that had sent him here: the slug EVO, with its swollen peach-like body. The vile thing lay on the floor of the cage, wires inserted into almost every inch of it. It undulated every moment, maybe in pain.

"Fascinating, isn't it?" Fell's voice was acerbic as he stepped out from behind the cage.

"Why have you got this EVO?" Rex couldn't stop staring at it, feeling sick. "What are you doing to it?"

"Harvesting." Fell ran a hand almost lovingly over one of the canisters attached to the other ends of the wires. "This is the cure, EVO. The cure to you…parasites."

"Cure? It's a slug. What're you gonna do, set it on our lettuces?"

Fell smiled. "It secretes a nanite-specific paralytic solution. It paralyses the nanites, rendering an EVO harmless."

Rex's look changed as he stared at the EVO. "It paralysed my nanites…that thing? You…the stuff Holiday injected me, was from that thing?"

Fell nodded slightly, smiling coldly.

"You tested it on me…you injected me with its slime?" he felt sick, his mouth twisting as he stared at the slime travelling down the wires into the canisters surrounding the cage. "You paralysed my nanites…you put slime into my body? Ew! Ew ew ew ewww !" he felt like spitting on the floor, like he'd swallowed the slime rather than had it injected into him.

Fell smiled. "All for the greater cause. You were proof that it worked in liquid form. I've tested it in gas form and it was just as effective. Now there's only one test left to perform."

"I'm not your lab rat!" Rex snarled, and Fell laughed. "No. You aren't. Holiday and Six are. I needed to test it on human subjects…I was going to test it on a few of the guards otherwise but Holiday and Six…you have to admit, it's perfect."

"No!"

"Too late." He pointed at the windows. "As we speak, the gas is going through the vents. It should begin having effects on their nanites within minutes."

Rex stared at Fell in hatred then grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt, leaned in close.

Even under threat of death, Fell sneered at him. "Don't forget to save your precious Holiday and Six."

"Forget…" Rex's voice rose.

"Ah, have you forgotten the side effect of my pet's poison?" Fell smiled cruelly, even as Rex held him by the throat. "I know about your blackout, Rex. I caused it. Well, the poison caused it. Go, save your Holiday and Six…by the time you reach them, you'll be exposed too. Have fun trying to remember yourself. I'll pick up the pieces…a useful EVO, with no memory. Oh, the possibilities…"

Next part will be posted within the next 3 hours (just tidying it)


	14. Chapter 14

Thanks for the reviews: peacexfreedom and phantomgirl96

Epilogue tomorrow.

* * *

Chapter 14

Who'd have thought that Holiday would welcome the help of Fell's assistant? It made Holiday want to laugh but at the same time she knew that if she started laughing she might not be able to stop, that it'd be hysterical laughter from all that had happened today. Together she and Fell's assistant laid the comatose Rex on the scanner bed in Holiday's lab.

A huge crash rung through the base. Holiday pressed the button and the scanner hummed, the tray disappearing inside, hiding Rex from sight. A red light on the wall glowed, a warning that only emergency power was available.

"He'll be fine," Fell's assistant said of Six.

"Yeah, he will." Holiday went to her desk and rummaged in the top drawer, brought out her modified blaster. Her face grim she returned to Rex's side, the blaster ready in her hand for the worst. Then she went towards the door and pressed the button to initiate siege-status. Nothing.

"Great. I do wish Six had been more careful of what circuits he destroyed when he ripped open the other lab." Holiday sighed and grabbed the door, pulling it shut with all her strength.

Back when Providence had first been upgraded, its doors had all been electronically controlled: the height of sophistication and security. Then Rex had decided to order every door to shut. White Knight had been apoplectic with rage and Rex had had to hide for a week, but it'd been proof enough that it was necessary to have a way to manually open and close doors. Holiday smiled faintly at the memory as the door clunked shut and she dropped back. Her arms aching, she returned to stand by Fell's assistant.

"We've got a while," Holiday said, sounding calmer than she felt. "We may as well get something useful done. Feel like bouncing ideas?"

"Like we're in cadet class?"

"Yes." She went back to the scanner and entered the commands. It made comfortingly familiar sounds as it began its work. "Good. Six didn't destroy all the circuits." She went to the screen and began looking at the results that were coming up. Fell's assistant came to stand behind her.

"I don't even know your name," Holiday said as conversationally as she could.

"Kate." She was silent for a moment, struggling to think of a normal conversation topic. "So…any good projects on the go right now?" Kate asked.

Holiday nodded. "I put it on hold though until Rex wakes up."

"What kind of project?"

"I'm investigating the EVO that attacked Rex. Don't worry, it's contained."

"Oh?" Kate raised an eyebrow. "Where are you keeping it then?"

Holiday pointed to the corner. "I didn't feel that putting a French delicacy in a zoo would be a good idea."

A tank-like cage stood in the corner. Inside it was a slug EVO: looking at it, Kate found it hard to believe that it had brought down Providence's secret weapon. "Why? What's special about it?"

"I don't know yet. I'm concentrating on Rex."

They fell silent now, listening to the battle rage through the corridors, coming closer and closer.

"Focus," Holiday said as much to herself as Kate, and turned back to the scanner's results, picking up a sheaf of paperwork from previous scans, comparing the findings to the ones onscreen.

"Have you tried a diagnostic breakdown?" Kate asked suddenly, "I mean you've taken an overall diagnostic of his biometrics but what about a diagnostic of his human systems?"

Holiday pressed a small sequence of buttons and the scanner obeyed. "If you look at the respiratory, I'll check circulatory. Those are the most likely since his heart and lungs were the ones needing the most machine assistance."

They were silent for a while, consulting the results coming up onscreen. After a while Holiday sent some of it to the printer on the table and without needing to be prompted Kate grabbed them, dividing the systems between them as they'd decided.

Soon Holiday stopped looking at her printouts and, gripping them in her fist she went to her cabinets, started grabbing glassware and setting them out on her workbench, then vials from a chilled cupboard.

Kate stopped looking at the printouts and watched her, awed by the scientist's engrossed manner and how she clearly didn't hear the battle still raging in the corridors outside, growing closer. She just started mixing something together. Her brow was knotted in concentration and in deduction.

"Kate," she said suddenly. "Go to the EVO and get me a skin sample? Do _not_ let it touch you. You're right, there is something poisoning his system. The nanites were slowing down because they've been busy trying to deal with it, cure it, immunise it, expel it, whatever. I'll have to deal with it like anti-venom."

Kate regarded the EVO warily. "A skin sample would be best then right? It probably poisoned him on skin contact." Holiday nodded, distracted again and Kate grabbed a scalpel, turning it to use the flat of the blade. She reached into the cage, trying to pretend it was just something normal like, I don't know, flea-combing the cat, and brushed the scalpel blade down the EVO's skin, slime immediately coating the metal. She hurried it carefully to Holiday who pushed a prepared glass slide towards the microscope. Kate added the sample to the slide and pressed the other glass coating over it, careful not to let the slime touch her. Then she slid it under the viewer and looked through at the sample.

After a while Holiday took over, taking a look at the sample, magnifying it as necessary then turned back to whatever she was mixing, adding some more ingredients. The mixture was a pale green by the end. She stirred the beaker, set aside the stirring rod and grabbed a clean needle, filling it with the solution and took it carefully over to the scanner where Rex slept. She swabbed his elbow then gently slid the needle into the crook of his elbow, emptying the contents into his vein.

"I haven't had to brew an anti-venom that quickly before," Holiday confessed, beginning to clear the equipment away even as the battle continued raging: gunfire, another wall smashed. "That would be Six," Holiday remarked almost peacefully. "He's getting pissed off. I hope White Knight doesn't mind remodelling after this. He should be getting quite used to it."

"I thought after this you'd hate White Knight," Kate said. "He wanted Rex to be dissected."

"He thought Rex was a lost cause," Holiday said. "I don't like him but I can understand sacrifice. I just don't think it's time to make those sacrifices." She picked up her blaster, checking it again. "Now then, Kate. We need to buy more time. I don't know when Rex will wake up so if Fell gets here, de-activate the EVO's cage and hide. Rex will be hidden inside the scanner. If anything, the EVO can keep Fell occupied, buy us some extra time."

"So it won't team up with Fell to kill us?"

Holiday shook her head. "No. It's an insectoid EVO. Not enough intelligence past basic self-defence to team up. Do you understand though?"

"Sic the slug on Fell and hide," Kate nodded. "Understood."

"Good." Holiday walked towards the door. "I'm gonna help Six."

Six's katana rang against EVO Fell's hide. He high-kicked it into the wall and it got back up, snarling, it bounded at him. He threw himself aside, doing a tuck and roll, surged back up to his feet as the EVO bounded into the corridor. He ran after it, took a leap and landed on it, it rammed the wall, trying to shake him off but he held on grimly for his life. It snorted, bucking wildly and dropped onto its back, rolling. Six hit the floor, got to one knee and snatched his katana back up, braced himself as the EVO charged him, enraged. Its deadly spiky fur slashed on contact and Six dropped his katana involuntarily and rolled aside to dodge it, glanced at the wall and clenched his jaw, his demeanour grim, his arm going numb.

"Six!" Holiday ran from the safety of her lab, levelled her gun and started shooting.

"C'mon kid, why does she think you're so special?" Fell's assistant murmured, looking down at Rex. He could've been her classmate, that was how young she herself looked too. "How can one person make the difference?"

Her touch delicate, she traced her fingertip down his cheek, his skin was cool to the touch. "I guess if Holiday and Six won't give up on you, I shouldn't either. If the EVO comes in, at least he won't see you."

It felt strange to call Dr Fell an EVO, she'd talked to him only earlier. Her thoughts dwelled on Holiday's words. Nothing's purely EVO. She took the time to look at the nanites themselves, curiosity winning out.

She was fascinated despite herself, how different the boy's nanites were from the nanites she'd seen before. "No wonder he wanted to dissect you," she said quietly but continued looking.

She'd seen the omega-1 nanite already, it was easily distinguishable by its size in comparison.

Then the door burst in, Holiday hit the wall hard and crumpled.

"Holiday!" Kate made to run to her but froze as the EVO that had been Fell loomed in the doorway. Six's katana was embedded into its metal fur, the agent hung to it grimly but it wasn't having anywhere near enough effect. Finally he leapt off and landed a few feet away, braced for if the EVO charged him. He didn't have his katanas now.

Kate ran to the cage, slammed her fist against the button to open its door. It coasted open and Kate ran to Holiday, grabbing the scientist's blaster where it'd fallen.

EVO Fell almost casually entered the room.

"Are you crazy?" Six demanded.

"Holiday's orders," Kate answered.

Six's lips formed a very thin line. "Gotta have a talk with that woman," he murmured.

"Survive and then you can talk all you like to her," Kate said, and stayed very still as the slug EVO began pulling itself out of the cage, oozing across the floor.

EVO Fell turned his blood-red eyes on the slug, watching it move. His hindquarters dropped, she recognised the animalistic hunter pose. She felt Holiday stir painfully. "Stay still," she whispered. Holiday's fingers dug into her palm as pain shot up her back from her fall but she was silent.

EVO Fell roared and charged the slug, grabbing it in its jaws like a toy and wrenched violently. Holiday and Kate turned their faces away, horrified. Even Six found it hard to watch…and to hear. EVO Fell dropped the slug. That distraction had been all too brief…

"Wake up for God's sake, Rex," Holiday whispered.

* * *

Rex still held Fell by the throat but his arm had started to shake as he began to understand Fell's plan. He didn't just want Holiday and Six to suffer, he wanted Rex to try and save them, to willingly expose himself to the gas to save them. He knew he was immune to the liquid but what about the gas? He wished he could ask Holiday but she was in the cage that he himself had locked her into in order to keep her safe from the attacking EVOs.

If he did black out from the gas, the result would be a boy with no memories, no idea what he was, trusting whoever he might first encounter…and that man would be Fell, waiting, ready to charm him or order him around to his way of thinking.

It worked in Hong Kong, it would work here, Rex knew, sick at the thought of being anything like he'd used to be.

But the only other choice was to be a coward and abandon Six and Holiday. He knew what would happen when they were exposed to the gas, or at least he had a gut feeling that it'd be bad.

Rex straightened up, looking Fell in the eye. "I'd rather be dead than obey you," he said then turned, threw Fell across the room. He didn't look back at where he'd thrown him, just heard the crash of glass, the slug EVO's screech and Fell's scream. Even as Rex ran he activated his Boogie Pack.

He flew straight through the windows, glass falling around him. He dove straight down at the cage, de-activating Boogie Pack as he fell, activated Smackhands and ripped the door off the cage, snarled at the EVOs surrounding him and grabbed Holiday and Six by the waists.

"Please," he whispered to whatever god there might be, activated Boogie Pack and flew back up towards the broken windows.

He could feel the effects of the gas already, his wings began to shake, he stared at Six and Holiday desperately, then made the decision. He de-activated the Boogie-Pack, forced the Smackhands through with the last of his strength and looked fiercely at Six. "Save her," he said clearly, then threw the two of them at the broken window. Six grabbed Holiday, holding her close with one arm and grabbed at the window ledge, ignoring the bite of broken glass.

Rex fell backwards, his smackhands disintegrating.

Holiday buried her face into the hollow of Six's shoulder, her shoulders heaving, he held her close.

The ground rushed up at Rex.

Life flashed before his eyes, but not the life he expected.

_The slug EVO._ It'd hit him, started this whole nightmare. He felt its blow, sending him flying, felt the pain like it was happening again.

_It has a paralytic toxin in it, it oozes it like slime._ He looked down at his hands as he fell. He couldn't see it but could he feel it? He could almost feel a link to his body, to his other life, feel the nanites struggling to re-activate.

_I was exposed to the paralytic toxin. I'm not comatose because of the picket fence. I'm comatose because there's EVO toxin inside me._

_There are two EVOs to cure._

_The slug…and me._

He couldn't cure himself though, and he had a feeling that the slug was past saving.

_Great,_ he thought, falling like in a dream…

"We have to help him!" Holiday said wildly, pulling free from Six. She ran to the consoles, familiar to her from when she'd worked here, swept the broken glass off it with her sleeve and activated all the ventilations, defence systems against bio-contamination.

It took her all her willpower to wait for it to finish.

Six gazed at the broken cage. The slug EVO lay like deflated meat, and Fell lay, his eyes closed thank goodness, amongst the wreckage of broken canisters, their liquids spilled over him.

"Don't touch anything of it," Holiday warned him, then ran from the room, clattering down the stairs.

Six ran after her. When guards dared step near her, he brought out his katana and gave them a deathly look, they backed away. Holiday deactivated the door to the Zoo-warehouse, and they entered.

It was a strange scene. EVOs lay across the floor, there was an eeriness to the air they breathed. They stepped carefully between the downed monsters. Holiday couldn't bear to imagine that her sister might be here among them.

Rex lay on the ground amongst the EVOs, his face tilted to the side.

"Rex?" Holiday crouched and touched his throat, wildly wishing for a miracle. His body was still though.

Six crouched beside her, drawing her close. "Oh, Rex," Holiday whispered.

Hearing is the last sense to go. His eyes were shut, but Rex heard Six's whisper. "I'll keep her safe."

* * *

Six charged EVO Fell, his mouth a grim line, his eyes fixed on Holiday and Kate. "Run," he shouted. "Run, Holiday!" he grabbed the katana from where it was still embedded in the monster's back and sprung off, delivering a kick to make the monster look at him, not at Holiday and Kate.

"Hey," a voice said softly from behind them, and Rex rolled out of the scanner, dazed and hit the floor. He didn't look good. "Whatever bus you hit me with Doc…" he shook his head, his brown eyes clearing and focusing on Fell. He looked down at his hands, wishing he didn't feel like he hadn't slept in weeks, then activated smackhands and charged Fell, punching him away from Six.

Like he had new energy, Six took up his katana again and renewed his attack, slicing at the EVO's eyes to make it look away or to blind it, then Rex was there on its other side to deliver a huge blow though he staggered back, the smackhands disintegrating as he did so. Fell crashed into the wall.

"Really," Rex said. "What bus hit me?" he rubbed at his shoulder and neck, tilted his face to stretch the muscles in his neck and watched Fell. His face was as inscrutable as Six's right now.

"Good to have you back," Six said finally. Holiday smiled faintly, echoing his words.

Rex re-activated smackhands and pinned Fell to the wall. It thrashed but compared to the size of his smackhands it was like pinning a wolf to the wall. "So, what's with the rampant EVO?"

"It's Fell," Six said after a moment. Rex blinked and looked at the EVO, revulsion twisting his features for a moment. Then without a word he tossed the EVO out into the corridor and ran after it, rage demanding that he land more blows.

"Rex!" Six roared, ran after him and grabbed the boy's elbow. Rex spun to face him.

"He tried to kill me!" Rex spat.

"And so you'll try to kill him?" Six demanded.

"I…I…" Rex's voice faltered. He drew his fist back slightly. "I don't know." He looked at Six stricken, his personality overruling his fury. "I don't know."

"Then don't act in haste. Don't do what you'll regret." Six folded down his katanas and slid them up his sleeves, hooking them back in place. He looked down at the unconscious EVO. Its back heaved painfully as it breathed.

"Fine." Rex turned on his heel and walked away.

"Rex?" Holiday emerged from her wrecked lab to call after him. "Where are you going? I should run tests…"

"Later," Rex said tersely. He needed…well, he wasn't even sure what exactly he needed.

He was too tired even to activate his Boogie Pack. He set off walking from the base, over the dry land. Soon behind him there was the rumble of an engine. He stopped and turned.

It was Six, at the wheel of a jeep.

"I'm not going home yet," Rex said. Six nodded. "I know. I figured I'd give you a lift."

Rex sighed and climbed in, all too grateful.

"Where to?"

Rex was silent for a moment. "Noah," he said finally. "I just want to hang out with Noah for a while."

"Noah's house then." Six drove.


	15. Chapter 15

And finally Asleep has reached its end: thank you for reading and I hope you've enjoyed the ride. Here's the only answer I can give to the question most asked: was it another reality or a dream?

* * *

Epilogue

"…Wow," Noah said finally.

The two of them sat on the edge of the concrete slope where they'd first ever hung out, what felt such a long time ago.

"Yeah," Rex said simply. He leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head and rested. "I don't know if I can ever sleep again though…I don't want to go back there ever again."

The sun thickly warmed the concrete beneath them and the air around them as they basked in the silence.

"You want a soda?" Noah asked. "I'm gonna get one."

"Sure. I'll stay here for a bit though," Rex had closed his eyes against the dazzling bright sunlight.

Noah nodded and headed off, fingering the dollar notes in his pocket. He took the route towards the nearest vending machines, by the bus station. The cans weren't cold but he didn't mind, he cracked his open as he walked, and sipped, the bubbles popping sharply against his tongue.

"Here," he raised his arm to throw the can of soda to Rex but checked himself in time as his friend didn't respond. "Rex?"

Rex didn't move.

"C'mon, Rex," Noah insisted, kneeling and grabbed his shoulders. "Wake up…" worry surged through him after his friend's story of the last few days. "Come on—"

Then Rex snored very slightly.

Noah snorted, his mouth turning up in a smirk. He shook his head at himself and sat down, sipping his soda and watching over his friend as he slept.

* * *

Rex stood in a sunlit backyard, the green grass well-tended. Its flowerbeds seethed with bright petals of all colours, a butterfly alighted from a forget-me-not and lazily drifted through the warm air, to land on soft flesh, rapidly taking off again as a child laughed in delight.

Rex regarded the child the butterfly had so delighted: it was a girl, maybe four years old with silky black hair and dressed in shorts and a yellow t-shirt, standing barefoot. She clapped her hands and called, "Mama, mama!"

A slightly older Holiday stepped out from the kitchen into the garden. "Isabelle?"

"Mama!" the child ran to her, tugging at her skirt excitedly. "I saw a butterbee!"

"A butterfly or a bumblebee?" Holiday asked intently, her eyes alight with enjoyment of her daughter's innocence.

"Butterfly!"

"Excellent…was it a peacock? Or a scarlet admiral? Or a tortoiseshell?"

"Butterfly!"

Holiday laughed and tousled her daughter's hair. "Dinner in five minutes. Maybe I'll make it look like a butterfly for you…oh." Her voice trailed off as though she sensed someone watching. Her eyes travelled over the garden.

No one was there.

* * *

Rex was quiet for a while after he woke up.

"Dream?" Noah said finally.

Rex shook his head. "I think it's another reality…Or at least, I hope so now. It looks better than when I was there."


End file.
